FoE: Outsmart Bullet
by Slicerness
Summary: Fo:E side Story. After a first mission out into the Wastes gone horribly right Quick Scope comes to realize maybe Stable life just isn't for him. With his trusty talking armor, and his very limited spell repertoire, he sets out to find a proper leader.
1. Chapter 1

Stable 13. From what I understand, it was supposed to be a Think Tank Stable. The smartest minds in all of Equestria, Ponies and Zebra alike, were thrown inside the Stable and given some insane and suicidal mission from Stable-tec. Thankfully, the great minds of Stable 13 realized how stupid following dangerous instructions from dead ponies was and started doing whatever kind of science they wanted. As anybody with common sense can tell you, this was a bad idea. After losing roughly a third of our population over the next two hundred years due to experiments gone wrong, or worse, horribly right, I was born.

One thing you must know about Stable 13 is that we're all about generalization... as long as you're a filly or colt. You're expected to grow up at some point in your early teens and discover the **Greatness of Science**. Fillies and colts are taught the basics of everything. Safe cracking, terminal hacking, lock-picking, how to shoot, how to make Stims and Chems, how to repair pretty much anything, the list goes on.

My name is Quick Scope, a unicorn stallion with a blank flank. I just reached the point of adulthood last year and it's official, I am not a smart pony. That, in Stable 13, is a death sentence. Oh, not literally, I'm not going to be burned alive because my IQ isn't 300. No, it's worse. My skill, as fate would have it, is weaponry and the repair of said weapons. Give me a rusted gun and I'll turn it into a shiny killing machine. Give me a worn out plasma or laser weapon, and I'll turn it into a gem encrusted death ray within a day or two. The only magic I know is for repairing weapons, which takes time, usually a few hours, and levitation. The problem with my levitation is that it's... selective. I can lift any gun, even the experimental Avenger Minigun that's in the Stable Armory no problem, but the second I try and lift, say, a terminal, I can't do it. Anything that isn't a weapon that's more then around three pounds just won't lift. My levitation spell won't even grab some of the heavier things; it just barely covers whatever it is before fizzling out within a second or two.

I'd like to point out that I live in a Stable full of relatively pacifist ponies and I've blown up more chemistry sets then most even see. So, since I was obviously a failure to the Vault, I was 'asked' to become the test subject of various ponies.

After five years of experimentation, some painful enough to make me contemplate overdosing on Med-X just to make the pain stop, my previously pure gun metal grey fur in now streaked with straight electric-blue lines, a side effect of the implants that boost my physical strength several fold. My Pip-buck is now an actual part of my right leg, it's abilities linking directly to the visor that slides over my eyes from the implants placed into my temples. My bones are gone, replaced by synthetic material that are much more durable.

At one point I was crushed by the fact that i'm more machine then pony, but now everything's just kind of melted into a giant pit of suppressed emotions.

I sat on my flank in front of the current Overmare of Stable 13; Thermite Flare. "Scope, I've gotten word a nearby campground has been infested with Raiders, or Fiends, one or the other. I can't tell the difference." She said dismissively. "As usual, the Stable needs them wiped out. Normally I would send a team with Stealth-Bucks, but you've been dubbed healthy and well trained enough to handle it. Bring back their guns, ammunition, food, and any raw material you can find. Our stocks of Broc Flower is running a bit low as well, so pick up some of that on the way if you come across any."

"Understood." I said dully. This was my purpose. Stable 13 had long since opened it's door to the wastes. Science required supplies after all. Getting those supplies had been difficult before I was born. The Stable's supply of Stealth-Bucks had been drained very quickly because the Ponies of Stable 13, for the most part, couldn't shoot very well and needed the safety the Absolute Stealth Field the Stealth-Bucks created while active just to stand a fighting chance. I currently had the only Stealth-Buck that wasn't recharging placed inside the cartridge of my Pip-buck.

"Armaments?" I asked, wondering what rusted piece of donkey piss I was going to be handed this time. I'd only been out into the wastes twice before. Once to gather supplies, and another time to kick threes to test the strength implants.

She reached into her desk and pulled out an old hunting rifle with roughly thirty rounds of ammunition. I grasped it with my magic and examined it. The slide was old, but it was in working condition, the barrel was rusted but straight, the magazines I had been given held ten rounds, as opposed to the standard five, and the scope attached to the top was clean... ish. Better then what I'd gotten the first time I went out to collect scrap metal from a nearby abandoned Sparkle-Cola Bottling Plant; a barely held together 9mm pistol and half a clip of ammo.

Thermite looked at me in annoyance, as if my inspecting the thing that was going to keep me alive was a sin against the Goddesses. I slid a full magazine into the gun but kept the bolt back; ready for use at a moments notice but not yet loaded and turned to leave. "Wired Tech wanted to talk to you before you left about you're Pip-buck." The Overmare told me as I was leaving her office. I nodded and made my way to Wired's lab. The hum of the lights above me was comforting as I trotted, the white noise distracting me from what could await me.

"Scope! There you are!" Wired greeted me as I entered the lab. He was a thin stallion, his coat a light blue while his mane was a darker shade of blue. His cutie mark was a terminal motherboard. "Come! Come!" He said excitedly, gesturing wildly to the bed he'd set up. I laid down, lying flat on my back with my legs spread wide; it was very uncomfortable. I'd long since stopped being embarrassed about everybody seeing my fleshy bits on display; by this point everybody in the stable had seen them anyway. "I found a way to upgrade your Pip-buck to improve your health and abilities!" He informed me; only after he'd strapped my legs in with heavy duty straps, which didn't fill me with confidence. He hooked a few wires into the holes in my leg connecting to my model 3000 Pip-buck before he ran over to his personal terminal and started typing. I could hear the hum of a machine just out of sight start before I felt a... pressure? It was an odd feeling, kind of like the few seconds before you pass out when administered Anesthesia, which was followed by an odd sizzling sensation in my veins originating from my right hoof; where my Pip-buck was wrapped around what now passed for my bones.

Wired didn't notice me start to squirm in pain, as nopony ever did while performing tests on me, and he simply kept typing wildly at the terminal, naked glee visible on his face. I sighed in relief as a lovely machine to my left swung around and hit me with a dose of Med-X and the pain died off into a sort of numb feeling. Oh Med-X, how I love thee, you wonderful drug you.

XxXxX

Roughly half an hour later my Pip-buck beeped loudly and the straps were unbuckled. The machine to my left must be on the fritz, because it gave me a dose of Med-X every other minute and I felt like I was an hourglass. A small part of me realized that made no sense, but the larger part of me was too busy passing out on the floor as I rolled off the bed to care.

XxXxX

I groaned as I regained consciousness; Wired about two inches from my face. I jerked back, my head pushing deeper into the soft mattress I was laying on. He grinned madly and backed up, "You're awake! Good. My Injector needs a new Sensor Module it seems, sorry about that." He said flippantly. It had long since stopped hurting that I was basically the Stable pet, or maybe 'toy' was more appropriate? Regardless, there was no sting in my heart at his uncaring attitude like there was when I was a colt.

"You should be A-okay now. Give your new and improved Pip-buck a look! Not in here though, I have work to do." He said, all but forcing me out the door. I hobbled on three legs towards the Stable door as I examined my new upgrades. It looked the same, but it was back to it's standard headache inducing amber. With a disgruntled grumble I set it back to the smooth white-silver I had it set to before. After that was done I noticed a few new tabs. Perks? Quests?

The first was blank at the moment, but the second had one selectable note.

Supplies for Vault 13:

Wipe out the Raiders in Sunset Hills campground (0/9)

Gather the weapons and ammo from the fallen Raiders

Search the campground for foodstuffs

(Optional) Collect Broc Flowers for the Overmare (0/15)

(Optional) Find a Sensor Module for Wired Tech

I selected the Quest and then switched to my World Map. There was a square with a diagonal line through it labeled Sunset Hills Campground with almost a dozen indicators in it, there were also quite a few indicators on the path there, which was about an hour's gallop from the Stable.

I marveled at yet more of my life being taken over by a machine as I reached my locker. Smiling fondly I took out my armor. It was made of some kind of metal, thin, but supposedly bulletproof. It was mostly black, but there were several white plates, the biggest of which covered my back. The plate was magnetized, so I could attach several guns to it, making carrying weapons easier. It also contained the self repair spell build into the armor and powered by my magic and the Injector; which housed my two favourite things in the world; Med-X, which the armor would inject me with right before I got into a firefight (which had never happened yet) and Stimpacks. Stimpacks were concentrated healing potion that was usually placed into a hypodermic needle. These were also injected into my body whenever the suit decided I was injured enough to need one. I could turn this feature off, because it was a bit wasteful on my supplies supplies, or so I'd been told, but I didn't feel the need.

Slipping the Stealth Suit MKII on, it's on board AI spoke, "We are okay on Stimpacks. Med-X supplies are low. Who may I hide you from today?"

"The Overmare wants us to clear out some Raiders and get their stuff. I have a rifle, so I think I'll take the slow and stealthy approach." I replied to Alice, which was the name the AI had requested be used. She never told me why, just mumbling something about seeing it in a vid once and then grumbling about zombie ponies.

"Yay." She replied, her feminine monotone finding a way to express joy somehow. Then again, maybe my status as a cyber-pony allowed me to understand her voice inflexion better? Shaking my head at that self-deprecating thought I threw on a saddle to carry the things I was going to be hauling back and punched in the pass-codes to the Stable door before watching as it slid open with a very unpleasant grinding sound.

Stepping outside I mourned the loss of the hum of fluorescent lights, as I enjoyed that sound, but enjoyed the smells of something that wasn't disinfected four times a day. Quickly leaving the small cave that hid the Stable entrance I gazed down at the wasteland. The Stable was hidden inside and under a small mountain, which gave me a wonderful view of everything. I could see cities on the horizon, their tall buildings just barely visible in the distance while tall, thin white towers were seen in every direction. I counted fourteen of them.

With a small flick of my neck my visor slid over my eyes, and the same white-silver letter that my Pip-buck had flickered into existence. The Heads Up Display contained the current charge on my SATS spell, a compass, which was filled with indicators when I faced to the West, and a progress bar. The progress bar was new. On the left side was a number 1 while the right side of it had the number 2, the arrow was currently located on the far left, apparently at zero of whatever it was for.

I tried to activate the Stable-tec Assisted Targeting Spell in my Pip-buck, only to hear a small click as it didn't find anything in my line of sight. Making my way down the mountain I checked my local map and saw one of the indicators was only a little bit away. Looking at where it was pointed I found a thin stalk of wood with two orange flowers on it. Walking over to it the center of my HUD suddenly read 'Broc Flower Stalk' when I looked right at the plant; another new feature.

Picking the flowers carefully I put them in a small pouch on my saddles and glanced at the objectives screen of my Pip-buck. The optional objective now had (2/15) behind it instead of zero. Handy.

Setting off at a leisurely pace I marched towards the campground, making sure to pick the needed amount of flowers along the way.

XxXxX

_'Aaaand that's fifteen.' _The second I put the last flower into the pouch in the saddle my HUD lit up. On the top left was written, Optional Objective Complete! With the picture of the Stable-tec mascot grinning. The progress bar's arrow suddenly started moving, making it about 1/10th of the way to the 2, the number 100 followed by two letters; XP, suddenly appearing before fading away. Interesting...

The campground was close. I was in luck and there was a hill a good three hundred feet from it that gave me a good vantage point. Climbing up onto the hill I levitated my rifle next to me as I laid down in a comfortable spot. Positioning the rifle into my hooves I grasped the gun itself with magic so I could reduce recoil, (A skill I'd picked up after spending years killing time in the firing range), and so I didn't have to pull the trigger with my tongue.

Looking through the scope I saw the campground. There was a guard standing atop each of the three egg shaped campers. There was a large tent set up that looked like it'd seen better days, along with a much smaller, much better looking tent that had a literal pile of bodies outside of it. Four bodies stacked on top of eachother, all mutilated, and all mares. I felt a spark of anger, my mission now personal. My mother had been killed by Raiders when she was out on a supply mission, my father had never been the same and had eventually overdosed on Mint-als when I was seven.

Mare-killers died. That was what I'd promised myself when I'd set off into the wastes the first time for a small supply run. This was the first time I'd ever seen a Raider though. Seen anypony actually. Well, live ponies; That bottling factory had been full of charred pony skeletons.

Quickly checking the set-up of the guards I aimed my rifle at the Pony farthest away from the camp. No one was looking at him and he was currently sitting on the far side of the camper; if I hit him now he would most likely fall of the metal vehicle and out of sight of the other guards.

I placed the crosshairs of the scope onto the Raiders temple and noticed _he_ happened to be a _she_. I hesitated. I quickly checked the other guards and noticed they were mares as well. I knew the mare to stallion ratio of the Stable was roughly 3 to 1. Could it be like that out here as well? How would my promise fit if most of the ponies I ever meet, and am most likely tasked to kill, were mares?

I glanced back at the pile of bodies. I took a deep breathe, my resolve hardened and any feelings of doubt I had about killing the Raider disappeared. My promise to myself changed; Raiders Die.

Placing the crosshairs back on the Raider I took a deep breath, let it out, and then squeezed the trigger with my magic.

_Crack!_

The rifle kicked minutely, my magic dampening the recoil as I had learned to do. I watched as the Raider's head snapped back, a spray of blood visible on the glinting metal of the camper in the afternoon light and her body went limp, falling off of the steel egg and onto the grey stone below, visible to me, but not the other guards, who didn't even flinch at the gunshot in the distance.

I was surprised that I didn't feel anything from taking my first life, but I gave a mental shrug and consoled myself with then knowledge that Raiders weren't ponies, they were monsters.

_Click-clack._ I slid another round into the chamber.

Seeing as the guards were facing opposite directions I sighted on the second and squeezed the trigger again. The .308 caliber round tore into the rubber tire she was wearing around her wither and hit her in what i'm hoping was the heart. It must not have killed her instantly, because the remaining guard perked up and looked at the other two campers before raising his gun, which appeared to be a Varmint Rifle with a night scope, and started looking around rapidly. My armor produced a Stealth field that made me blend into the surrounding when I stood still, so I wasn't worried. The second he looked in my direction I fired again, _Crack!_a bloody circle appearing right in between his eyes. _Click-clack._

I gathered my shell casings and waited for almost three minutes, seeing if anypony was going to come out of the tents. Nopony did, so I got up and started creeping towards the first guards body, my body held low to the ground as I crept along. Writing started appearing on my HUD; Sunset Hills Campground, it said. I also got 10 experience, whatever that was.

I reached the corpse with no problems or sign of more Raiders. She was laying sprawled on her back, her blooshot eyes stared up at me. '_Nothing but monsters.' _I assured myself, just in case any feelings of remorse cropped up. They didn't.

I searched the body and found a holstered revolver along with four quick reload cartridges. It was small, the rounds were only .32s. Regardless, I placed my rifle on my back and levitated the .32 revolved on my right side; it would be better for close range fighting, even if it lacked the punch of my rifle.

Suddenly, I heard shouting. "Hey! Hoof, Ear, and Leg are dead! Someponies here!" I heard hoofsteps and my compass now sported four red lines. "I'll go check on Ear's spot, you guys get the other two. Hacksaw, stay here. Get the Boss if something happens."

The red line started spreading out, two going to the other campers while one stayed still. The last red line wasn't moving, but I could hear the sound of hoofsteps getting closer; the downside of the compass system, it doesn't tell me how far away they are. Stepping away from the camper slowly, my Stealth Field losing strength but still there as I moved, but not fast enough to deactivate it, I heard the clanking of the Raider walking up the metal ramp on the other side. She stopped walking, and I'm assuming she was looking at the blood, before she walked closer. I could just barely see the tip of her mane, a dirty dark orange color, but she stopped again. Thinking fast I levitated one of my shell casings out of the small pouch meant for them in my saddle and hurled it at the side of the camper as hard as my magic would allow.

The plan worked, and the Raiders head popped into view. She had just enough time to widen her eyes as she saw what was most likely a hazy outline of a pony before two round pierced her neck. The revolver made a _Blam!_ Sound as it fired. Quieter then the crack of my rifle, but still far more then loud enough to alert the other ponies.

As she fell next to her fellow Raider, gurgling for air for a few more second before she bled out, I stared at the revolver with a curious eye. I felt the urge to facehoof as I saw the barrel was actually bent downwards just a little. I should have checked it when I picked it up.

The two dots that were moving instantly stopped and I heard the sound of them running my way. With a quick glance at the bottom right of my HUD I threw myself around the camper and activated SATS with a twitch of my right cheek. The world slowed to a crawl, freezing the two Raider's surprised expression. I could see the slow dawning of horror as their eyes flicked slowly to the revolver floating next to me. With a mental command I queued up two shots to each of their heads, each shot taking more of the bar from my SATS system bar; 45% chance of hitting each.

The world snapped back into place and the revolver roared, the four bullets coming out so fast it sounded like one shot. The first raider went down, two shots in her head, while the second fell to the ground with a scream. The first shot had hit the ground at her hooves and the second had shot low as well, hitting her in her left knee.

Just as I had countless times in the shooting range my magic reloaded the gun; the quick reload cartridge floating out of my saddle while the spent shells were caught mid-fall when the gun was flicked open and placed into the casings pouch. It was all very methodical, mechanic even.

_'Is this what combat in the wasteland is like?'_ I thought as I put another round into the screaming Raider. This was... easy. I still didn't feel anything from killing, but I wasn't worried. Monsters, Raider, etc.

The two downed Raiders had revolvers as well. I was just about to levitate them into my saddle when I heard somepony gallop away as fast as her legs could carry her. I looked up and with a jerk I remembered the orders to 'Hacksaw' from earlier. The dusty colored pony was running towards the smaller tent quickly. All manner of finesse gone I grabbed the two revolvers out of the holsters from the bodies at my feet with my magic and opened fire with all three.

_Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!_

The sound was deafening as the wall of lead ripped the fleeing pony apart. Her momentum carried her and she flipped end over end, her body painting a bloody streak on the ground as she slid into the tent flap. Instantly I crouched, the Stealth Field enveloping me as I waited for the 'Boss' to show himself, my breathing speeding up.

I didn't have to wait long.

_'By Celestia's beard!'_ I cursed. Boss was wearing very imposing solid metal armor. It had spikes sticking out in random directions, every one of them covered in dried blood. He also had a sledge hammer grasped in his mouth, which was the only part of his face that wasn't covered in a helmet.

I must have jerked back, because the Stealth Field failed and he charged at me the second I became fully visible, screaming a muffled battle cry from behind the handle of his weapon. I panicked, opening fire with the revolvers; shooting wildly.

_Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Click. Click. Click._

My eyes were wide by the time all three guns had clicked empty. Boss' armor had done it's job and, of the shots I actually managed to hit him with in my current state, none of them did anything but scuff and dent his armor the tiniest fraction.

"Take this." Alice chimed, just before Boss swung his weapon.

I heard a sickening snap and a surge of pain as the metal head slammed into my left shoulder. My magic failed and the revolvers dropped to the ground. Thanks to the Med-X dulling most of the pain I was able to hurl myself backwards, away from the deranged madpony.

Boss looked amused as I crumpled to the ground, a throaty groan escaping my lips as even with the Med-X my shoulder made a horrible sound as the bones scraped together when I landed from my hop.

I glanced at my SATS bar and saw it was at about 45%. just a little bit longer and I could cue up a shot with my rifle. I could feel my magic grasping the rifle and levitating it beside me. I could see it beside my head, my magic wasn't as focused as it normally would be due to me not being experienced at shooting while in pain; the gun wobbling horribly in mid-air as a result, but at least it was out and pointed is his general direction.

He spat out his weapon, the metal head hitting the ground with a thud, the handle resting against his neck. "You killed my group Stable Boy." He said plainly. "I'll make sure to make your death slo**ooo****ow**." His voice slowed down as I kicked in SATS. I could only shoot one round, the rifle taking much more energy to aim then the revolvers, taking a whole half a bar per shot, but I had a 99% chance of hitting him; the highest I could get.

_Crack! Click-clack._

The much higher caliber .308 bullet tore a hole clean through the metal helmet Boss was wearing and I watched in relief as he felt to the ground, his legs twitching minutely for a second before he went still. The rifle tumbled to the ground as the recoil overwhelmed my weakened magic.

I felt a small prick and a sense of relief flooded my left shoulder; Alice had injected a Stimpack directly into the area. I laid on the ground for several minutes as my ligaments reattached themselves completely and healed. If I was anybody else i'd be looking at a shattered shoulder, but my synthetic bones did their job. I felt a small drain on my magic and the dent in the Stealth Suit fixed itself, good as new.

Getting up shakily I rotated my left foreleg and let out a breath of air I didn't know I'd been holding as there was no pain or lasting damage. Picking up my rifle again I checked my Pip-buck. (8/9) it said. One Raider left. There was another optional objective though.

(Optional) Spare the final Raider

That struck me as odd. Both that my Pip-boy knew something I didn't and that I would ever iwant/i to spare a Raider.

Marching slowly towards the Boss' tent I entered through the flap and saw myself. Wait, no, I saw my reflection in a mirror. The tent was split into two rooms by a curtain, the front being a work station that held papers and weapons. The mirror was on top of a small dresser. My visor covered eyes stared back at me. I blinked; I had no idea the visor was black on the outside. I could see through it just fine. I also noticed I would need a haircut. My gunpowder grey hair was getting a bit long.

"Daddy?" I heard.

Instinct kicked in and I demonstrated an ability I'd invented to go with my name; I spun, my rifle scope lining up with my eye, and I squeezed the trigger, all within the span of a second. I watched in dawning horror as the tent wall was splattered with the brains of the last Raider, and I suddenly understood why the Pip-buck had given that optional objective...

It was a filly, barely into her teens. And I'd just killed her. She was pink, her mane a silvery-blonde, which was rapidly changing color as her blood dyed it dark red. I fell to my knees, rifle once again clattering to the ground as I took in what I'd just done. Something caught my eye though, the 'XP bar' was going up. I was getting _rewarded_ for this?

_'Luna's perfect flank!'_ I suddenly froze as a wave of euphoria passed through my body when the arrow hit the number two, my Pip-buck chiming a victory tune. SATS suddenly kicked in and the world froze, but it wasn't to shoot anything. A menu popped up, glowing with the same white-silver that everything else did. There was a small list of what it had dubbed Perks. Only three of them were lit up though, the others were dark grey.

Clever pony:

You gain an additional 10% whenever experience points are earned. 

Predator:

In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against creatures and mutated animals. 

Seeing Eye Pony:

Hostile targets are highlighted whenever the user is looking through the scope of a firearm.

Using the same mental manipulation that allowed me to cue up shots normally I read through each one carefully, my mind seemingly enveloped in a cloud that only allowed me to think of the screen in front of me. I selected the Seeing Eye Pony perk, as it sounded the most useful for someone of my combat habits. As soon as I selected the option the screen went blank, the word 'Activating' flashing in the center. My eyes ached for a few seconds before the menu dropped; my HUD returning to normal aside from the 1 now being a 2, the 2 being a 3, and the arrow being back on the far left.

I stared down at the filly as the world resumed it's normal passage of time. She was pretty, but her face was now ruined by the gaping hole in it. With a father like Boss I doubt she would have grown up to be anything but an attractive Raider... but what if she didn't? What if she decided to run away from her Father and change her ways? She would never get that opportunity now. She would never find love. Never discover cities in far off lands as she traveled. Never discover what friendship was like, unless the Raiders I'd just killed had been her friends. Never...

_Why didn't I feel anything?_

I turned and stared at the mirror. I looked the same. My neck twitched and my visor slid back into the implants on my temples, revealing my eyes. I felt the pit of suppressed emotions reach out and swallow a bit of my sanity as I saw my eyes; the only truly untouched part about me left, now had the same mechanical vein-like lines in them that my fur did, only these were red instead of electric blue. My magic snatched my rifle off the ground and I looked through the scope at myself. Since I kept my left eye open I could see the red lines thicken, swallowing my iris, making my previously blue eyes turn a mechanical red, my body lighting up a dull red in my vision, just like the Perk mentioned.

_Crack! Click-clack._

I put a bullet through the mirror before I started giggling. I don't think I'd ever made that sound before, and it definitely wasn't a healthy sound, but it was just so funny! I got it now; I'm not a pony. I'm just a weapon that gets a nice little reward for slaughtering whatever the person wielding me says to. I froze, my mind latching onto that last thought. The Overmare was lazy, in every sense of the word, and I had enough of an ego to say I was a damn fine weapon. I needed a good wielder, not a lazy one.

Changing out the magazine in my rifle for a fresh one I gathered all of the guns and ammo from the Raiders. Aside from Boss, who's dresser contained a few .308 rounds for a gun that he didn't have. I found it odd that he didn't have a firearm to go with it, but shrugged and moved on.

After rounding up the guns from the fallen monsters I now had a Scoped Varmint Rifle with a silencer along with thirty .556 rounds for it, six .32 revolvers and almost one hundred rounds for them. I grabbed the holders for the revolvers and strapped them to my legs, two on either side of my front legs, for easy drawing and placed the Varmint Rifle across my back next to my Hunting Rifle. I stopped by the big tent before I left, which turned out to be the sleeping area for anypony that wasn't Boss or his daughter and found a bit of food; Pork an' Beans mostly, but I also found a box of Sugar Bombs. Oh, and skulls. Found lots of those too.

I snorted as I looked in the last footbox and found a Sensor Module. Really? A high tech piece of tech _here_? In a Raider camp? It was like a game I'd seen some of the scientists playing. What'd they call it, the Tutorial Level? Yeah, that was it. This was that nice little tutorial level before my grand adventure, I thought sarcastically. I frowned though and looked at my Pip-buck. The indicator now pointed back to the Stable.

Give the supplies to the Overmare

It said. The other objectives now a familiar dark grey.

I started walking back to the Stable. There was only one incident on the way back; a Bloatsprite. It fell quickly from a well placed .556 round from my newest rifle as I continued walking. I glanced up at my XP bar and saw I'd gained 10xp from killing the Sprite. Almost nothing compared to the 300 I got for killing the last Raider, thus completing the objective, but still useful in the long run.

XxXxX

The Overmare looked at me strangely. I'm guessing it was the eight weapons strapped to me. The fact that I hadn't taken off my Stealth Suit probably helped. "QuickScope, is there a reason you haven't returned the Stealth suit, and are still wearing the guns?" She asked, her voice in her rarely used 'business' tone.

"Yes." I answered simply.

She waited for a few seconds, obviously waiting for an answer. I spoke again, my earlier thoughts coming back. "What will I be doing after I hand over the supplies? In the long term I mean?" I asked.

She looked miffed at me ignoring her question but leaned back in her chair lazily, her hind legs propped up on the desk. "I don't know." She shrugged. "More Raider extermination, further experiments, maybe getting some more supplies from that Sparkle-Cola plant now that you're strength implants have been tested. Stuff like that I guess."

Just as I thought. Lazy. It's one of the first things I learned; never hold a gun unless you know how to use it. I was a weapon, and It seemed like it was time I left to find a hoof worthy of using me. I floated over the food and the Sensor Module I'd found and my Pip-buck chimed, a whole 500 points of experience being given for handing over the supplies, plus the optional objective. The arrow was now about 75% of the way to the 3. It seems the higher... level... I was, the more Xp I needed to level up again.

"I shall be taking my leave now. I feel the Stable can no longer offer me what I need." I said simply, mechanically, before turning around and walking away.

"H-hey, stop!" I could hear Thermite's hooves impact the ground and she scrambled to get out of her chair to stop me. I turned and looked at her, my visor sliding over my eyes with a twitch. She didn't notice, now standing in front of her desk about ten feet away. "You can't leave. You're Stable property... I-I mean this is your home." She stuttered lightly as she realized what she'd admitted out loud.

Her eyes widened as six barrels were suddenly pointed at her. "I'm going to leave now. I hope this isn't a problem." I wanted to sound smug, but after everything that had happened I couldn't muster anything but a dull monotone; eerily reminiscent of Alice's voice, only male.

Thermite Flare paled as she back up behind her desk. I took this as a sign of her acceptance and started walking back outside. I was only about a fourth of the way into my journey back to the Stable door before the PA system sprang to life; Thermite's voice blaring through it. _"__Subject QuickScope has had a mental break. Subdue him. I repeat, subdue him. Non-lethal armaments have been authorized.__"_

My revolvers floated up, forming a neat little line above my head. I walked calmly, marching boldly in the middle of the halls towards my destination. I didn't have to wait long for the first of the Stables residents to appear. Sodium Extract ran around the corner a ways ahead of me. Her eyes fell upon me and tried to grasp the Stun Gun in the holster on her leg-

_Blam! Blam!_

Before falling over dead. The revolver on the far right of the row now down two bullets. The floating guns continued swaying back and forth, ready to fire at a moments notice thanks to my magic as I made my way to the Stable door, not even sparing the rapidly cooling corpse a second glance as I grabbed her Stun gun and the Microfusion cells for it and stuffed them in my saddle along with anything else she had on her that I thought would help me.

XxXxX

_Blam! _Zinc Puddle's right leg had been crippled! _Blam! _50Xp gained!

_Blam! _50 Xp gained!

_Blam! Blam! _50 Xp gained!

_Blam!_ 50 Xp gained!

_Blam! _Magnesium Crystal's chest has been crippled!_ Blam! Blam!_ 50 Xp gained!

_Crack! _50 Xp gained! _Click-clack._

**Vilified!**

**The residents of Stable 13 now attack you on sight!**

XxXxX

The world froze again as I stepped out into the Wastes for the fourth time. The 'level up' screen appeared once more in my HUD, only there were three more Perks this time.

Gallop n' Gun:

Improves the magical levitation spell so the user has better accuracy with ranged weapons while walking or running. 

RAD Stallion:

The more irradiated you are, the more effective healing potions and stimpacks are. 

Pony Eater:

Gain more nutrients from pony flesh.

After barely a second of thought I chose the first option. I sure as heck wasn't going to be eating anypony any time soon and I have enough Rad-away stored in my saddle, scavenged from the Stable Dwellers who'd tried to stop me on the way out, to keep me radiation free for a while. The only remaining choice was very nice anyway. I'd had to holster the revolvers about twenty feet from the Stable door when my horn started to hurt from holding so many guns up for so long and I had to switch to my Hunting Rifle. Anything that improved my levitation abilities I was going to grab quickly.

As the Stable door slid back into place with a very unpleasant grinding sound I sat on my flank and tried to think of a good wielder. The first name that came to mind was The Stable Dweller, but she seemed to already have a good deal of companions. I fiddled with my Pip-buck as I started to wonder if maybe I would have to wander the wastes for a worthy candidate. I accidentally turned on the radio on my Pip-buck and a strong mare's voice suddenly blasted from the speaker. _"Get the fuck out of here. Find another line of work. Tell every Slaver you know to find another line of work. I see you doing this shit again and I will turn you into paint! Do you understand me? Do you understand me?_

Another Mare's voice spoke up, much quieter, sounding absolutely terrified. "Yes! Yes!"

The slight buzz of a recording stopped with a click, which I hadn't noticed until now, and another pony started talking. This time it was a stallion with a smooth voice. "Looks like the Security Mare is reminding reminding ponies that ponies selling ponies who work ponies to death is wrong. And Security isn't wrong. So in light of that, Hoofington, this ones just for you from Sapphire Shores hit..."

I clicked off the radio. Maybe it was listening to Alice for so long but I could detect the strain in that mare's voice. Unlike the Stable Dweller, who seemed to be able to do everything without any problems or sign of stress, at least according to the bit of radio I'd listened to on the way back from the campground, Security needed help. She needed a good weapon.

I grinned, feeling a sliver of genuine joy for the first time in a long time at the possibility of finding a true purpose. My Pip-buck chimed and I checked the Quests tab. My grin widened.

Find the Security Mare.

(Optional) Challenge her to a fight to get rid of any doubt of her ability.

_'I like that idea.' _I thought as I slowly reloaded my revolvers and slid a single round into my Hunting Rifle to top off the clip. I took a single step and stopped to bask in the moment; realizing the importance. It was a new step to a new life.

Unnoticed, under my armor, my cutie mark appeared; a sickly red Biohazard symbol.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Blackjack's speech was used without permission. Which is something I hate to do, but I have no idea how to contact Somber.

Feel free to use QuickScope in a fic if you'd like, just try to remember he's pretty sheltered emotionally, never having any friends of any kind except for the Stealth Suits AI and his first reaction to anything hostile is usually to shoot it in the face with his multitude of revolvers and other side arms once he gets more, or with his trusty rifle, which his repair spells can fix when he gets some downtime to perfect condition with the consequence of a sleepless night, no matter what that enemy is or how old they happen to be with little regards to morals.

I'm afraid I lack the ability to give him the very visual and truly crippling emotional problems that Lilpip and Blackjack have on occasion. So if he is used I would like to see how he turns out from a better author.


	2. Chapter 2

There are parts of this that are rated M and A. M for mature, obviously. And A for Asinine, because this idea is insane, but it won't leave me alone and making it so I can't sleep. So to appease my whiny muse i'm writing it down, no matter what.

Warning: I wasn't kidding, this gets mentally scarring. Anypony who's woken up drunk in an odd situation i'm sure can relate.

XxXxX

It'd been two days since I left the Stable. I had calmed down considerably and regained most of my rationality and sanity from the pit I'd fallen into. I still wanted to join up with Security, but it... well okay I would be lying if I said it wasn't because of that 'worthy wielder' thing. That thought was nagging at the very back of my brain, and probably always would thanks to my growing... issues, but the mane reason was because I want to help. Listening to the radio, it's really set in how bad some places are, and the area around Hoofington is one of the worst. Even if I never join up with her, the area needs another helping hoof.

My musings paused as I saw something I hadn't expected to find for a while; live, (non-Raider) Ponies. There were three of them, two mares and a stallion, all dressed in what looked like leather armor. They were followed by a... cow, I think? It looked nothing like the books in the Stable though. It had two heads, it's skin was a horrible red color, and it had five small horns on each head, none of them seemed to have any rhyme or reason for sprouting from their places on the heads' in various places and they were all different lengths. It had a huge saddle on it's back though, packed with gear.

The three bars I saw on my HUD were a friendly green, but I couldn't be to sure. They didn't see me yet, so I crouched, letting the Stealth Field cover me and took out my Hunting Rifle. Activating SATS I focused on the pony in front; Roving Trader. Next target; Mercenary. Next; another Mercenary. Finally I switched targets to the... cow... thing; Brahmin. So that's what it was called, odd name, but it was also an odd creature.

Putting my rifle back on my armor and deactivating my SATS spell I started walking towards them cautiously. I didn't want to look like a threat, just in case they were jumpy, but I was also running dangerously low on food and water, so I needed to talk to them.

"Heyya Stranger!" The Trader greeted me with a grin as I got closer. "Interested in doin' a bit o' business?" She asked. I glanced at her two guards; one earth pony mare and one unicorn stallion like myself. I cast a wary eye at the latter; he was twitching occasionally and his pupils were contracted. I wasn't skilled enough to know what he was on, but he was clearly riding some kind of high. I'd have to watch him carefully.

I nodded, looking back at the Trader. I realized something though; I was completely clueless as to how this was supposed to go down. "I need ammo, food, water, gunpowder, primers, and scrap metal. What do you have that falls into those categories?" I asked.

The Trader grinned, "Lots'a stuff Stranger, lemme jus' lay it all on the table and ya can go through it and pick out what'cha need." She said eagerly. Considering how full the Brahmin's saddle was i'm not surprised at her enthusiasm, they probably had to travel at a pretty slow pace due to the weight.

She levitated several dozen objects out of the saddles from the beast of burden and gently lowered them to the ground in nice neat rows. Scanning her wares I saw several things of interest. Grabbing the twelve .308 rounds I saw I levitated them away from the rest of the items into a pile a few feet away.

A bit more searching yielded two cans of beans, some meat of some kind (My HUD said it's a Brahmin Steak, and it hasn't lead me wrong yet, so I'm going with that), two jars of gunpowder, several cases of primers, although only two of them were for pistols and rifle ammo I grabbed them all, and roughly fifteen pounds of scrap metal. She had plenty of water, so I grabbed five bottles of the stuff that my HUD labeled 'Purified Water' and finished off my pile.

The Trader nodded, looking pleased at me taking a few of her heavier items. "Makin' yer own ammo's much cheaper'n buyin' it. Time consumin' though." She commented. "What'cha got for trade?"

Thinking for a second I reached into my saddle with my magic. The second the handle of one of the Stun Guns peeked out of the pouch the Stallion tensed and I heard the slide of his gun, a 10mm Pistol, cock back, a bullet now in the chamber. I froze, turning my eyes to look at him. Thankfully, the Trader smacked the gun away and whispered harshly into his ear, calming the situation. Normally I would be set on edge by her whispering, but I could just barely hear her threatening to fire him if he didn't shape up.

Levitating the Stun Gun out of my saddle all the way once her attention was back on my I set it in front of her for inspection. While she was doing that I pulled out ten of my seventy Microfusion Cell canisters down in a pile. She didn't have any of them in her wares, so I didn't need to separate them much.

"Well... It looks like an energy weapon o' some kind, but what is it?" She asked.

I blinked, not expecting Stun Guns, the most common weapon in the Stable, to be something that this pony had never seen. They looked like blocky pistols, the handles being the only odd thing about them. They were a good eight inches long and the bottoms of them were thick, because that's where you inserted the Microfusion Cell canister, the top of the handle was thinned down so ponies could grasp it in their mouths. "It's a Stun Gun. As the name implies, a blast or five of this will knock out most ponies." I explained. Levitating the gun again I opened a hatch on the handle, showing her the empty insides before inserting one of the Microfusion Cells into it. "One canister will give you an even ten shots. Good for taking someone down when you want them out for several hours, but still alive and unharmed. You could probably sell it for a pretty good price to a bounty hunter." I was actually getting into my sales pitch, trading was fun.

I placed the gun in front of her again so she could examine it. Her eyes had lit up, and I knew I had the sale. Apparently I was pretty good at this bartering thing, who knew?

"Ya gots yerself a deal Stran-" The Trader was cut off by the twitchy stallion to her right grabbing the still loaded gun and pointing it at me. "I d-dunno R-r-roam, I think w-we should check if i-i-t wor-works first." He stuttered.

I acted quick and punched the release button with my magic. The hatch on the handle swung open and the Microfusion Cell fell out of the gun less then a second before he pulled the trigger. The Stun Gun's barrel, or rather the mini dish-shaped device that all Energy Weapons seemed to have, glowed a weak blue before petering out, no energy to power the shot remaining.

I was about to levitate one of my revolvers up and blow a hole in his face, but the Trader snarled at him and picked up a pipe from my pile of scrap metal and smashed him over the head with it. "That's it you bastard! That's the last straw, yer fired!" She roared. Of course, this was pretty useless, as he was very much unconscious from the wicked blow to the head.

She turned back to me just in time to see me levitate three of the ten cartridges back into my saddle. "Hey, I thought we hadda deal?" She demanded.

I jerked my nose towards her downed mercenary, "One of your Ponies just tried to attack me. I like you, you seem like a fair pony, but not enough for me not to expect a discount after that." I told her frankly.

She sighed, "I guess you're right." She admitted.

I was surprised as I suddenly got 25 Experience points. Did I get points for getting my way using persuasion or something? Regardless, it didn't seem fair that I was cheating her out of something like that _and_ she'd lost a body guard in less then a minute, so I spoke up. "That gear he's wearing yours?" I asked.

She looked at me funny for a second before answering. "Nah, I ain't gonna give away free merchandise. This stuffs all his."

"Well." I said with a grin. "I don't suppose it says anywhere in his contract, ya know, in the really small print that he missed, that you get his stuff if he did something like this?" I inquired.

Her face blossomed into a grin to match my own, "I'm sure there was somethin' like that... I'll see ya 'round Stranger."

"Pleasure doing business with you." I agreed. Stuffing the purchased goods into my saddle I walked away as the remaining Mercenary and the Trader started looting their comrade and ex-employee, respectively.

XxXxX

It was just after dark that I found a town. My HUD helpfully informed me the town was named Shoe. Odd name for a town, but then again, I've never been to a town in the wasteland have it? Anyway, the town was pretty empty, only three or four ponies still milling about, mostly stall owner locking up their wares. The town itself seemed to be set in the 'Old West' style, so every building was on the same street. I wasn't really looking at things very hard, because I saw a big glowing sign marked 'Inn' and I wanted to make sure they had a room available; because it seemed that was the only option aside from sleeping on a nice cardboard mattress around here.

Entering the relatively intact building; it had four walls, boarded up windows, and everything looked like it'd been on fire at one point, but it didn't appear to be in danger of collapsing so I don't mind; I walked up the the counter and rang the bell there hesitantly, as the helpful little sign next to the bell informed me I should do if nopony was at the counter.

"You rang?" A black and white Stallions voice spoke from the space that used to be empty right in front of me.

"Gah!" I blurted, falling on my rump. Quickly shaking the shock off I asked, "Do you have a room available for the night?"

"We do indeed have several room available. All of which are twenty caps for a single night. For five extra caps we offer access to the safe housed in each room." He drawled.

Thinking about the possible risks of leaving my gear unattended, I decided to go with the safe option. Levitating twenty-five caps out of the small leather sack I kept them in I was instantly handed a key and a piece of paper with a number on it. "Have a good evening sir." The Inn employee said.

"You too." I responded instantly, a little shocked that he didn't count out the caps. _'Then again,'_ My mind wandered as I walked to the appropriate room. _'He knows where I sleep. Wouldn't be too hard to simply knock on my door later and inform me I miscounted.'_

I got to my room; number 13. Ha. If I was a paranoid pony I would say that strangely polite pony at the counter knew something about me...

Seeing a desk nearby I glanced at my Pip-buck; 9:36 PM. I still had plenty of time before I usually turned it at midnight. Closing and locking the door behind me I walked over to the desk and set down all the things I needed to complete my work. The gunpowder jars were stacked in a nice neat row, the shell casings floating out of my saddle and into a pile while the primers were set into another. Lastly, I slowly emptied the scrap metal I had acquired. Thankfully it was mostly light weight, jagged metal pieces, so my magic could actually carry them.

Once it was all in a pile I prepared my spell. "**Breakdown.**" I intoned. I didn't need to, but I always found it easier if I focused on the words. My magic enveloped the pile of metal and a horrible grinding sound filled the room. My magic shifted, broke down, and ground the metal together until I was left with a nice little pile of lead. Levitating that, making sure I didn't breathe any in, I got to work making some bullets.

XxXxX

It was a long and tedious task, but I finished a few hours later. The piles were significantly smaller then when I'd started; I was out of primers, casings, most of my lead was gone, and so was an entire jar of gunpowder. Seeing as I had an empty jar now, I scooped up the lead and placed it into the emptied jar for safe keeping.

Checking my Pip-puck I saw two hours had passed. Not surprising, but it was worth it. According to the Pip-bucks value system (which is another one of those things I didn't question because I like not having a headache) I had just saved almost one-hundred and fifty caps. I had restored fifty-six .32 rounds, twelve .556's, and fourteen .308's. I still had a few .308 casings, but I didn't have anymore primers that would fit, but I could always pick up more tomorrow. There were at least a dozen stalls for trading that I'd passed on the way here; it seemed Shoe was a trading town, so i'm sure I could find all I needed then.

For now though, I wanted to try something I'd never had before. I'd seen what I think was a bar across the street and I wanted to check it out. Any booze that entered the Stable was immediately sent to the Overmare for 'inspection', so I'd never gotten drunk before.

Checking the piece of paper I was given I slowly turned the dial on the safe to the correct combination and put most of my belongings inside. It was a large safe, but the Hunting Rifle on my back didn't fit, even when I tried to slide it in diagonally. Giving up I placed it on my back again. I didn't know how the bar ponies would react to me walking in with a big rifle on my back, but I really didn't want to leave my most powerful weapon out in the open.

Making up my mind I left my room and made my way outside. It turned out I was right, and I even found out why the town was named Shoe. The bar itself was called The Rusty Shoe, but the first two words were faded, some letter were actually replaced by letters from other signs. They must have seen the bar and named the town after it. That mystery solved, I walked inside. The first thing I noticed was the noise. There were at least four dozen ponies talking at once and their voices were all merging into a loud collective sound. My entry went largely unnoticed aside from a few curious eyes, mostly at my gun. Seeing some of the weaponry the other ponies had strapped to themselves I wasn't really surprised; rust seemed to be the name of the game. My shiny Hunting Rifle made their low caliber Revolvers and Single Shotguns look horrible by comparison. I felt a surge of irritation that anypony could allow their weapon to fall in such disrepair, but ignored it. Not everypony could repair their weapons when they needed to like I could.

Making my way to the bar I took a seat. "What is it with you Stable Ponies? I thought the Stables were all paradises, why are you all leaving lately?" The old bartender asked as she walked over.

"That obvious?" I asked, feeling a bit self conscious all of a sudden.

The mare chuckled, "Yeah kid, the shiny weapons and fancy armor give it away. Plus the Pip-buck. Nine times outta ten if someponies got one they were from a Stable. But please do ignore this old mare, it's none a' my business why you left. What'll ya have?" She asked.

"Whatever's cheap and will get me drunk." I replied.

The mare snorted, "Ha, works for me." She grabbed a large clear bottle with her teeth and dropped it in front of me. "Bottle'a Vodka; ten caps per bottle." She offered.

Throwing thirty caps on the counter I replied with, "Gimme three."

She looked like she wanted to say something, but shrugged. "Alrighty then, it's your caps."

Grabbing one of the bottle with my magic as she walked away I opened it and hesitated. I thought about everything real quick. Alice was almost impossible to take off by anypony but myself and my Hunting Rifle, while valuable in the sense that it's a high powered long range rifle, wasn't anything I would feel bad losing. I only brought fifty caps with me, so I wasn't going to spend anymore then I was comfortable with in my soon to be inebriated state. Bringing the bottle up to my lips I took a mouthful and swallowed it straight away.

I instantly regretted that, it burned all the way down. I slammed down the bottle and started coughing, tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. I could hear the nearby nickers of the other ponies in the bar and scattered comments about 'Stable Ponies being lightweights'. I ignored them, picking up the bottle again and took another pull. It seemed to be an acquired taste, because I actually kind of enjoyed it this time.

_'Welp, here goes.'_ I decided._ 'What's the worst that could happen?' _I thought with a chuckle as I licked my lips, taking another drink.

XxXxX

_'Celestia's burning Sun my crotch is on FIRE!'_

I opened my crusty eyelids before proceeding to slam them shut. There was a beam of light pouring in from the cracks in the boards over the windows shining right in my Goddess damned eyes. Shifting around, which brought whimpers from my throat and the pain in my crotch doubled, until the pain in my eyes lessened and I opened them again. My first though was, _'Why am I snuggling a Sniper Rifle.'_

All four of my legs were wrapped protectively around a long black Sniper Rifle, which was covered in a... white substance. Pulling it away from my body my breathe hitched as a familiar burning reasserted it's control in my brain. At least I knew why I was hurting now; the stock of the rifle was hollow, making a misshapen figure 8, my flaccid member was currently inserted into the bottom-most hollow hole in the stock, bent sideways, and sticking out of the other hollow. The white substance was exactly what I feared it was, and was from me.

All I can ask is why. _Why_, am I in this very, VERY bizarre situation. Carefully extracting myself from the stock, which revealed the assortments of cuts along my very sensitive organ I got out of bed. By which I mean falling off and trying not to yell in pain due to the pounding headache I suddenly gained due to the action. I hobbled over to where I saw Alice lying in a haphazard pile. Putting her on was probably the hardest thing my pain soaked and clumsy brain had ever done, but I finally accomplished it.

Alice was strangely silent, her normal start-up checklist absent. "Oh Goddess yes." I hissed as I was hit with a glorious Stimpack, my injuries fixing themselves nicely. A bit of Med-X made my headache fade away and I could think again. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how curious you were, memories of the previous evening suddenly resurfaced.

XxXxX

The bartender was giving me funny looks. I had spent the last of the fifty caps I'd brought with me and was finishing off the last bottle of Vodka. I have no frame of reference, but considering I wasn't overly drunk I can assume what I was doing wasn't normal. Then again, maybe this is what being drunk is like? I could still talk, mostly, as far as I knew anyway, and while I'd suffered a bit of motor function loss I could still use my magic properly. The world was kind of hazy and certain sounds were muffled though. Overall, it wasn't that bad, definitely something I may pick up in my-

And that's when I saw her, the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on. Finishing off the rest of my bottle I walked over to her, "You are the most attractive thing I've ever laid eyes on." I said boldly.

The Pony in front of me turned to me, red in the face. "R-really? No ones ever sa-

I scowled, "Move." I said gruffly.

She blinked at me, "Wha-mph!" I placed my hoof on top of her head and pushed it down, the floor muffling her attempts at talking. Hopping up on the useless mare's back with my front legs I stared steamily down at my soon to be prize. She was covered in a slim carbon fiber frame, accenting her curves, while her long, slender barrel was topped with a positively naughty silencer. I had to have this woman.

I picked her up gingerly in my hooves, cradling her gently. I noticed a small tug and saw my catch was already tied to the mare that got in my way before. It seemed this beauty wanted to come with me tonight though, because her well maintained strap was choking the mare.

"Now now, there's no need to be vindictive. It's always best to end things on amicable terms." I slurred, untangling the strap with my magic.

Since I couldn't walk straight and carry her at the same time, or walk straight at all (I severely misjudged how well my motor functions were working.) I levitated her beside me as I turned around and started walking back to the hotel.

"H-hey!" The mare behind me yelled after her coughing fit. "That's mine!"

Without a second thought the Hunting Rifle floated off my back. The magazine came out with a click as my magic ripped the rounds out of it, probably breaking the spring inside. Throwing the rifle and the now empty clip at her I stared at her with disdain; she was taking time that I could be using to worship the piece of perfection I just got my hooves on. "Here. She's an ugly beast, but she's reliable. Nothing like this little spitfire." I said as I nuzzled my catch's scope.

I quickly left the bar, barely hearing her mumbled, "Whatever freak, thing's broken anyway."

It took me far longer then I was comfortable with to get across the street, reach my room, and finally actually get inside my room as my room key seemingly multiplied while I was levitating it. Finally, I stumbled inside and somehow managed to close and lock the door without looking as I threw my date on the bed and climbed on top of her, Alice somehow disappearing from my body and falling to the floor on the short trek there. "You've been a naughty little foal haven't yo-_Oh Goddess what did that evil pony do to you!_" I cried.

Now that I got a better look at her I could see the tarnished beauty she actually was; her trigger box was busted and missing pieces, the glass of her once elegant scope was shattered, she only had half a trigger remaining, the bottom half ruthlessly severed by some horrible accident, and worse of all, her majestic barrel was completely twisted, it looked like a corkscrew.

"Don't worry, I can fix this." I said soothingly, stroking her stock. Inside though I was livid, how dare that evil pony treat such perfection like this! "I need to go have a... talk, with that mare." I tried to pull away, but her strap stopped me, pulling taught. "Please let go, she needs to pay for this." I said gently, but she didn't relent, her strap keeping me in place.

I sighed, "You're right, i'm sorry. We need to work on getting you better." My horn charged with magic as I turned back to her. I didn't want to tell her the bad news though; it would take days for me to repair this kind of damage-No! I would not allow her to suffer for that long. "**Repair!**" I declared, commanding every bit of magic I possessed to surge forth and heal her. I closed my eyes as I heard her writhe and shift below me. I hoped her injuries were being fixed quickly, because I didn't want her to be in pain for even a second longer then she should be.

My spell finally fizzled out when my magic was spent. I felt empty, but my body tingled nicely. I opened my eyes, hoping against hope for good news. "Oh my." I muttered, drinking in her true form.

She was even more stunning then before. My spell had healed her completely, even fixing the nicks and scratches along her frame. She called to me. "Now where were we?" I purred, lowering myself further I extended my tongue to lick-

XxXxX

"The FUCK?" I yelled, breaking free of that disturbing memory. Didn't I have enough problems? Now I was attracted to firearms when I became intoxicated too?

Alice chose that moment to speak for the first time, "Do you love me?"

…

Oh hell.


	3. Chapter 3

And lo and behold, I have more insomnia inducing ideas. DAMN YOU MUSE!

XXXXX

One VERY awkward conversation later, in which I assured Alice that I liked her as much as any pony can healthily like the armor that saves his life on a consistent basis, but didn't love her in the sense that I was going to rub my reproductive organs on her until I passed out on top of her (her words), and I started getting ready.

One more repair spell cleaned the Sniper Rifle of my... discharge and I placed it on my back, before I grabbed my things from the safe, remade the bed, and made my way towards the door leading to town. I stopped on my way back to wish the pony manning the register, who once again appeared out of nowhere, a good day and give him back the key and safe combination.

Blinking at the bright morning light shining through the clouds I made my way over to the stalls. I passed several of them over, seeing as I didn't need ammo, food, or water, and came upon a stall selling medical supplies. It took another sales pitch for the Stun guns, but I was able to buy a dozen Healing Potions, nine doses of Med-X, and a copy of the Wasteland Survival Guide. That last item was actually given to me for free. Apparently the writer of the book was giving them away free to Ponies from Stables.

I now only had two Stun Guns remaining and five canisters for each, not counting the two in the guns already. A pretty good deal, considering how much she was charging for the Healing Potions. I suddenly discovered the first thing I hate about the Wastes; Trade routes weren't guaranteed. While Healing Potions could be made cheap by a pony with enough skill from, coincidentally enough, Broc Flower, something called Xander Root, and a bit of Purified Water, it was a lot easier to buy them in bulk from Caravans. Which made the current Raider problem all the worse. The Caravan that delivered Healing Potions couldn't get through, so the price was appropriately raised in Shoe for the Potions.

"Is there anything unique about the Raiders that are attacking the Caravans?" I asked as I put away my purchases.

The young mare dressed in a dirty white lab coat looked thoughtful for a few seconds before she replied, "The group took a pretty hard beating from the last Caravan they attacked so they're said to be down to around ten members. The leader is always dressed in Metal Armor with dozens of spikes, which he uses to full effect when he charges in for the kill with his trademarked Sledgehammer." She explained.

"Oh." I replied, My HUD suddenly lit up

**Help the Members of the Collegiate**

Glancing at my Pip-buck I confirmed the objectives.

**Kill the Raiders attacking the Collegiate Caravans. (0/9) **

A beat Later the zero changed to a nine and the objective turned dark grey, a new one appearing below it.

**Return to the Collegiate Member in Shoe and tell her of the Raiders' demise.**

Taking my Pip-bucks advice I started talking, "Before I left my Stable I was tasked with clearing out a nearby camping ground of Raiders. The group of Raiders you described sounds like the ones I killed, the one in the armor nearly broke my shoulder with his hammer. Thankfully he stopped to brag so I had enough time to line up a shot." I wasn't really lying about the shoulder, upon reflection my synthetic bones did their job and didn't break, it was just the ligaments that didn't fair as well.

She looked searchingly at me for almost a full minute. It was making me nervous.

"Okay." She finally said. "I believe you. Normally I wouldn't since you don't have any proof, but I have a feeling I can trust you."

**Quest Complete: 600 Experience points gained!**

Her smile made me feel warm inside. I'd never been flirted with before, not that she was, just giving me a compliment really, but it was shockingly effective at making some red appear on my face. It was also a bit of a relief, I wasn't really sure what my sexual orientation was until now. Back in the Stable, stallion and mare alike were more interested in cutting me open then they were having a conversation, so I didn't exactly get attached to anyone in a possible-romantic-partner kind of way. "Thank you. I'm just glad to have helped." I said honestly.

She looked frustrated suddenly, "I'm afraid I don't have anything as a reward, but I can put in a good word around town and with the Members of the Collegiate for you."

Considering I didn't actually have to do anything, since I'd already did the task, I was grateful for anything I could get. "Thank you, that's more then enough." I assured her. Since I needed to find a stove, I was about to walk away. I had turned and took two steps before the Stall Owner stopped me.

"Wait." She said. I turned to her and sent her a questioning look. "A friend of mine owns the Weapons Stall, I'll be right back." I didn't get a chance to say anything before she galloped across the street.

So I got to stand around, suddenly feeling rather awkward, while the pink mare in the lab coat talked to a one eyed pony running the Weapons Stall. Thankfully, she returned after a few minutes carrying something in her teeth. Once she was back behind her stall she set it down in front of me. "Powder owed me a favor so I was able to get him to part with these. He's been saving them for a while, but I don't think he was actually ever planning on parting with them. He's a bit of a pack-rack." She stage whispered, finishing with a giggle.

"I knew a few ponies like that." I commented with a smile, more because I liked being in her company then because the ponies I was talking about being the sort that would bring a smile to my face. Picking up her gift with my magic I saw it was a fully loaded clip for my new Sniper Rifle. My trained eye noticed the bullets looked strange though and I took one out carefully. Examining it further I noticed the tips of the bullets were actually dimly glowing rubies, alight with an inner fire. "The gems are enchanted. Whatever you hit with that will, aside from getting shot, also burst into flames." The mare elaborated, breaking me from my analysis.

"Wow." I couldn't help but say. "These will come in handy. Is there anything else I can help with around town?" I asked.

"Well..." She started hesitantly. "Some of the farmers have been complaining about the water becoming more irradiated. It's not much, but it's slowly ruining the crops. There's a Stable not to far outside of town that's heavily irradiated for some reason. It's always been a problem because it bleeds into the water supply, but we let it go because nopony wanted to go inside and the amount was negligible."

I nodded, seeing how this could be a problem. "I'll see what I can do miss..."

"Thick Cream, call me Cream. And if you make a fat joke I'm going to break your legs." The creepy part was her friendly tone and smile never wavered when she said this.

"Wasn't planning on it." I replied as smoothly as I could. "I'm Quick Scope. How much for the Rad-X? I think I'm gonna need some."

She grabbed a pill bottle and set it on the counter in front of me. "On the house. Consider it an advance payment on the reward for doing this." She warmly smiled at me again, eliciting the same response from me as before. "The farm ponies are trying to downplay it but I know if this problem persists we'll be in trouble, and soon."

"Alright, there's a few things I need to do before I leave town but I'll head to the Stable as soon as possible." We parted ways after that, but before she did she gave me the coordinates to the Stable to put into my Pip-buck. Oddly enough, the coordinates were pointless, the Stable was already marked on my map in what I was coming to find was the 'Not Yet Visited' symbol while my Quests tab had a new entry.

**Shoeful of Rads**

**Investigate Stable 34, discover the cause of the radiation, and fix it.**

Making my way back to the Hotel I rang the bell at the counter. "Welcome back Sir." The magically appearing stallion said in his usual drawl.

"Do you have any stoves I can use? Maybe a pan or two as well?" I asked. I was hoping he did, because I have no idea where else I would find one that wasn't private property.

"My personal room has a fully equipped kitchen. You may use the stove and as many pans as you require." He answered.

I blinked in surprise, that didn't sound like something that everypony was normally allowed access to. I followed him none the less though as he turned and led me through a door I hadn't seen until now a few feet away from the counter "Oh. Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing, sir." He replied. "You cleaned up after yourself and gave back the safe combination without prompting. Consider this an act of kindness to repay yours." He answered back, never breaking stride.

I remained silents as we entered his room. I kept my eyes locked on the back of his head, already feeling like I was invading his privacy, so I didn't get much of a look at his dwelling. When we entered the kitchen I walked over to the stove that I saw. There was a good size pan on every one of the four burners. When I turned around I found myself alone in the room. Shrugging, I set my gear on the floor nearby and took off Alice. Grabbing the Healing Potions from my Saddlebags I poured the Potions evenly in the pans after checking that they were clean and set the dials to the appropriate temperature. Since the only recipe I knew called for two Potions per dose I still had four potions left over.

Opening the plate on the back of Alice I saw three tanks. One dark purple, one a dull blue, and one neon purple. The dark purple was for Stimpacks, the blue for Med-X, and the neon purple tank was for something called Super-Stimpack. I don't know what they were, but a Super-Stimpacks could heal even fatal wounds. Appropriately, the tank that held the Potion was several times smaller then the other two, holding around five doses maximum. Even more appropriately, I have no idea how to make them. So the tank would remain useless until I found a recipe.

I turned back to the stove and noticed the liquid steaming, but not boiling. I needed to boil the Potions so the useless excess could evaporate from them. When that was done I would be left with the sludge that was affectionately known as a Stimpack. Thankfully I didn't have to bother putting it in any needles, since I could just pour it directly into Alice's tanks.

Speaking of needles, I reached into my bags and grabbed the needles of Med-X I bought. While I waited for the pan to boil I carefully emptied them into the blue tank. I was in luck, and when I turned back to the stove the mixes were just a few seconds shy of done. I tried levitating the pans, only to roll my eyes as, with the addition of the slop inside them, the pans passed my spells maximum weight limit for non-weapons. Carefully grabbing the pans with my teeth, being very careful not to burn my face, I pour the mixture into the tank one pan at a time, using my magic to make sure I got every drop.

Putting the pans back on the burners I shut off two of the dials and repeated the process for the four Potions I wasn't able to before. This went much slower the the first batch, as I had nothing to occupy myself with, but it eventually finished. After I finished with that I put my gear on and left the Inn owners quarters as quickly as possible "We are okay on Stimpacks. Plenty of Med-X to kill the pain." Alice chimed as I approached the desk. One last thing to do before I set out.

I rang the bell. "Is sir finished cooking?" The stallion asked. I even kept my eyes on my compass that time! He just appeared out of this air!

Putting my frustration aside, I told him, "Yes, I'm all done. Thanks again for letting me use your kitchen. The stuff that's left in the pan won't affect any food made in it." I tilted my head as something occurred to me. "In fact, if you allow the leftovers a day or two to soak in the magic from the Potion extract it will likely enchant the pan so any food cooked in it from then on will have the slightest healing abilities." The black and white pony showed the first sign of emotion I'd ever seen from him as my words sunk in; his eyebrows both raised a fraction on an inch.

**Unmarked Quest Complete: Heal Thy Neigh-bor**

**200 Experience gained!**

"That will certainly help sales, if I can come up with a way to advertise it and hire a chef... You have my endless gratitude sir, I bid you a good day." He actually bowed to me after he finished talking. I blinked, and he was suddenly gone.

My eye twitched. Why couldn't I be that stealthy?

XxXxX

**Shoe**

**Accepted!**

**Folks have come to accept you for you helpful nature around these parts.**

XxXxX

"Huh... When Cream said 'not too far outside of town' she probably should have said _right_ outside of town..." I mumbled to myself as I approached the rickety screen door that lead to the cave that hid the Stable. There was a small rocky formation literally within rock throwing distance of the town limits.

As I entered I was hit by the sense of Deja-Vu that I expected. The cave sloped subtly downward, unlike 13's upward slope, but it looked exactly the same once you were inside and didn't notice inclines and declines that small.

Suddenly my Pip-buck clicked. Instinctively, I jumped backwards. It was a reflex, if something in Stable 13 was radioactive then something had gone very, very wrong. Taking a deep breathe to get over that little self preservation tick, I floated my bottle of Rad-X out of my saddle and took one of the four pills within, washing it down with some water since I was getting kind of thirsty.

Stepping forward again, ignoring the alarms in my head, and the actual alarms on my HUD listing exactly how much radiation I was taking per second; currently 1+ per second, the Rad-X doing it's job. There was even a bar that appears at the top left corner of my visor that had a 0 on one side and 1000 on the other. I'm assuming 1000 would be lethal amounts of radiation absorbed, and every tic mark until then was listing every 200 mark between the two numbers. I'm definitely going to be keeping it below the first tick mark.

My Pip-buck, since it was registered to Stable 13, was granted access to the Stable with barely any hassle. Which was pretty cool, actually. I did NOT want to try and hack the access terminal to get into the Stable. That would have taken days, and if the rumors I'd heard were true, then the terminal would kill me if I failed to hack it in a single try. Then again, maybe that was just 13. We were pretty important after all, can't have those pesky Zebra knocking on the door of our greatest thinkers without any way to knock back.

I was... strangely disappointed in the Stable's interior. Everything was clean... kind of. There was no rust, but it looked like somepony went nuts with a Grenade Launcher. Every hallway and corridor was collapsed leaving a single winding path. The debris that blocked the other routes was made up of dirt and scrap metal in pieces too big for me to fit into my saddlebags. I could probably carry them on my back, but it would be very awkward getting into doors since they were several feet across.

When I finally came to a fork in the hallway I decided to check out the direction my compass was indicating wasn't going to lead to where the... Quest arrow, I guess is what it could be called, was pointing.

That was a mistake apparently, because three steps into my journey the Rads per second warning jumped from 1 to 75 per second. Letting out a yelp I let my instincts take over and hurled myself backwards again and cleared the metaphorical line indicating the starting of the area that would lead to my death. Just in case, I grabbed one of my many packets of Rad-Away and plugged the hose into my Pip-buck. Sure, I could drink it, but that wasn't very effective. The Pip-buck was literally designed to help ponies fight radiation and mine especially, since it wasn't an external piece of tech like everypony elses', could deliver the drug directly where it needed to go.

I calmed down once I saw the arrow on my radiation bar go from around 150, down to just a touch under 25. I had to check the more in depth graph on my Pip-buck to get the real numbers, but it made me feel better. Numbers were good, numbers were familiar, and number also happened to be completely radiation free.

Turning toward the other path, the _only_ path, I corrected myself, I started marching. "You vill go zis vay und only zis vay!" I grumbled to myself, sick of the linear corridors.

I finally reached the end of my path only two turns later; the Overmare's office. Or maybe Overstallion, who knows? Regardless, I entered the office to find it... well it looked terrible. If the Stable itself looked like some trigger-happy pony was playing with a Grenade Launcher then the office looked like somepony had set off a miniature Balefire Bomb.

I walked over to the Overmare's (I'm most used to the Overmare being a mare, so i'm just going to refer to her position as such until I find proof she was a he) desk and sat down. Despite the destruction, the chair was just as lush and comfortable as I fantasized it would be in my daydreams. I slid down the chair, sitting in a manner that no Equestrian should probably be able to without years of practice, or zebra blood in them like me, when I heard a click. I tensed, thinking I hit a secret button that would release the deadly neurotoxin that would kill me.

Turns out I was half right. I accidentally hit a button, but it actually just raised a terminal out of the desk. There was nothing on the screen but a blinking insert cursor. Tilting my head in thought I typed,** Hello?**

I waited for almost a full three minutes. Just as I was feeling rather foalish, a message appeared that was definitely not typed by me.

**Thank Celestia, someone's here!**

Surprised, I typed back. **Who are you? And where are you?**

**My name is Eagle Strike. My two fillies, my wife, and I are trapped in the Radiation Cleansing Chamber. We've been stuck in here for months. We have plenty of food and water stockpiled, but we can't get out. The Radiation right outside the bulkhead is at such high levels that we wouldn't survive galloping ten feet, much less making it to a safe area. I need you to vent the Radiation so we can escape, I can walk you through how to do it. Please, help us.**

I was about to send word that I would, but a thought occurred to me. **b Wait, where would the radiation get vented to?**

**It would be harmlessly vented into the ground. None of it will reach the surface. Will you help?**

I closed my eyes and prepared to send the next message. **I can't.**

**Nonsense, nonsense, I can walk you through it. Don't worry.** Despite the conversation being entirely through text I knew, somehow, that he was starting to panic on the other end.

**No, you don't understand. I can't. I was tasked to fix whatever was causing the radiation to spill from this Stable. The radiation isn't harmless inside the ground, it seeps into the wells a nearby town called Shoe uses to water their crops. It's already escaping the Stable, but it's just a little bit. If I release it all at once like you want me to, I would be dooming everypony in Shoe to slow starvation as their crops die.**

There was no response. I waited and waited, staring at the blinking line for what felt like an eternity before a message finally appeared.

**I understand. I had hoped that we could be saved, but deep down I guess I was always prepared for this, ever since we were trapped in here.**

Before I could ask him for a solution, he answered first.

**The chamber we're in was built to suck in nearby Radiation and absorb it into the special talismans inside the device housed in here. This will flood the chamber with every bit of Radiation in a mile radius of the Stable, killing all four of us. You will be safe, don't worry, and the town will be saved. May I ask your name?**

**My name is Quickscope, I am an ex-resident of Stable 13.**

**Oh? A fellow Stable pony? So you know the purpose of the Stables then?**

**Yes. I'm not sure of what mine was though, we abandoned our mission shortly after the Stable door was sealed shut.**

**Shame. I was always curious about the other Stables, but it's nice to know yours abandoned their most likely suicidal task. Stable 34 housed almost two thousand pony souls when it was first sealed. We were an army, ready and waiting to leave the Stable and decimate what remained of our crippled Zebra foes. Of course, that's just what we were told. We were actually meant to design better explosive ordinance. Better bombs. Not like the Balefires' though. Smaller, more compact, something anypony could carry on their back and launch at an enemy from across the battlefield and be granted victory through a miniature mushroom cloud. This task was our downfall. We became obsessed with explosive weapons and devices. Some of the things we developed... we couldn't set them off in the Stable. So some wanted to leave. We argued. Arguing lead to hate. And hate turned to violence. We fought. For decades we fought. We were less than eighty strong by the time a victor was declared. There were sixty of them and only twenty of us. Those of us who wanted to stay in the Stable surrendered. Our enemy was gracious, simply wanting to leave after so much fighting, and we gladly let them, even holding one last party for them as they left.**

He seemed to be collecting himself for something. My hunch proves correct with his next words.** My family is asleep. I don't know how long the radiation will take to reach lethal levels but I... I won't let them die like that. I have a siongle pistol with mwe, if I doo it quivck they'll necver wake up. Thhey won't feeel a thingh.**

I could tell he was losing composure, he was making mistakes as he typed the message. I could almost see him starting to break down in tears, trying to keep them quiet so he didn't wake his blissfully sleeping family.

**Do you have a Pip-buck that still works? **I couldn't make this any better, but I could help him in some way at least.

**Yes.**

Good.** Use SATS. I know first hand that the bullets fired using it to aim are fired quickly. If it's like mine, you need to twitch your right cheek to activate it.**

More silence.

**It works. Thank you, I am a Pegasus, without this knowledge i would not be able to...**

The message cut off there. For once I couldn't tell whether he simply couldn't type anymore, or he didn't want to think about it for any longer and decided to do it as quickly as possible.

I heard a gunshot echoing down the silent Stable halls. The sound was too long to be a single shot, but too rapid to be two shots. He'd done it.

**Celewsdisa foirgiivre mne foier wehat uI hgavbe domne. **His words were almost illegible in his grief.

**She will, brother. **I don't know why I called him this, but my hooves kept typing.** The Goddesses will welcome you into their embrace. Your family will be there waiting beside them. They will bear no hatred, only forgiveness. You will be at peace.**

There was more silence. I was worried he had turned his gun on himself.

**Thank you... Stable Brother. Your words have given me hope in my darkest hour, I will be granted true rest from this nightmare soon. but first I have a final favor to ask. The reason Stable 34 is like this, the reason my family was trapped here and... it was a pony from the winning side of our civil war. Eye E-Dee. He left bombs, big ones. The kind we had unanimously forbidden everypony from arming within the Stable. It didn't go off until days later. My family barely managed to make it inside this chamber before they blew up. I want you to find him with the others at Galaxia Air Base. And I want you to kill him for what he has done to my family, and a dozen others who did not make it to safety and were either crushed, killed by radiation, or starved, trapped under or behind the debris.**

**Consider it done. He will pay for his crimes.**

**Thank you. From the bottom of what remains of my heart, thank you. Only one thing left to do before I can rest. I'll walk you through cleansing procedure.**

It took almost an hour for him to teach me how to do it. In order to start it up I needed more knowledge about how terminals worked internally, and how to write the code to make them do certain things. Thankfully, Eagle was a very good teacher, and he taught me how to do it all with the patience of a saint. When it was all said and done I could safely say I now had a few tricks up my sleeve to hack terminals. Like getting rid of dummy passwords and giving myself more chances to pick the right password before being locked out.

Finally, it was time. I typed in the last letters of the code. **Goodbye brother. Be at peace. **I typed before I activated the Cleansing.

**Thank you for everything you have done. Goodbye brofghtttyu**

I could hear the hum of the machine as it did it's job. I placed my forehead on the desk. I didn't feel sad. The pit within me pulsed._ Let me cry... _My eyes were dry. _Let me know I still care..._ I felt nothing but regret. Not regret that I couldn't save Eagle, but regret that I would never know what would happen if I had chosen to flush the radiation._ That I'm not a machine... _Would the ground glow green? Would the crops wither? Or would they mutate. On that note, would they become sentient and decide that ponies deserve a taste of their own medicine and become carnivorous? P_lease... just one tear..._

The pit widened ever further.

But it was halted, not by the release of sadness and sorrow that I longed to feel, but by rage. Rage at the wasteland. Rage at the still living Stable 34 ponies at the base. Rage at myself.

"**AAAGGHH!"** I screamed. My voice once more sounded like it did back in Stable 13 dull, robotic, emotionless. I continued to scream until the warped sound died from my throat. My voice box no longer able to work for the moment.

That avenue of release gone, I leaned my head back before I brought it forward, slamming my forehead against the glass of the terminal. The screen broke, tearing into my face, somehow missing my eyes. Despite the damage the screen was still showing the messages we exchanged. As if it was mocking me the only area of the screen that still showed unmarred text was the part with Eagle's last message. I brought my head back before slamming it into the terminal again. And again. And again.

My horn ripped through the top of the monitor eventually, the synthetic material it'd been replaced with was stronger then the terminal. My face was cut even more from the new jagged pieces protruding from it, but I never wavered, blood pouring from my wounds; drenching the message that were still on the screen in the blood that it should have been from the start. Eagle died a bloodless death, Eye E-Dee would not be able to say the same when I found him...

I started feeling weak, the blows slowed as my head started getting heavier. My vision swam from blood loss. The world flipped on it's side and the last things I heard before the darkness claimed me was Alice, her voice sounding as sad as I'd ever heard it, pleading "Please don't die." and the _Pshh _sound of a Stimpack being injected.

XxXxX

I opened my eyes slowly. Despite everything that had happened I felt completely fine again. The only guilt was the miniscule amount that I could force myself to feel. The genuine curiosity at what I was going to do next was overpowering it. I looked at my Pip-buck.

**Shoeful of Rads:**

**The area has been Cleansed. Report back to Thick Cream and tell her the crops of Shoe are no longer in danger.**

There was a new quest as well. Scrolling down I read that as well.

**Vengeance for the Sacrifice:**

**Travel to Galaxia Air Base and track down Eye E-Dee before killing him.**

**(Optional) Investigate the Radiation Cleansing Chamber now that it's free of radiation.**

That was a good idea. There may be something in there, aside from the obvious four things. Picking myself up I walked purposefully towards the split in the corridors that I couldn't enter before. I slowed down, almost to a crawl as I inched my way forwards. No Radiation, just as my Pipbuck said. In fact, the standard 1+ per second I was getting before was gone as well. The hall was straight and long, but unlike the others this was because there wasn't any other paths, and not because of debris. I eventually came to a door. It looked like a mini Stable door; it was even cog shaped with the number 34 on it.

In lieu of an access terminal there was a single massive lever. I was about to reach out and grasp it with my magic, but I jumped as the door gave a dull *Clang!*. I thought it was just a single occurrence, but I could hear something else when I pressed my ear against the cool metal cog; moaning. Not the sexual kind. It was an inequine sound that sent shivers down my spine, followed by more dull clangs. Something was alive in there, and it was trying to break the door down by either running into it or beating it's hooves against it...

Better safe then sorry, my new Sniper Rifle floated off my back and I swapped the Magazine for the one with my new incendiary rounds. Cocking the bolt I slid a round into the chamber and flicked the safety off. Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for what I would face. Grasping the lever with my magic I tried to pull it down...

…

and failed. I facehoofed. The lever was too heavy for my magic to move. Of course it was.

Okay, no big deal. The Bulkhead would probably open very slowly, like the main Stable doors and I would have plenty of time to shoot whatever was on the other side if it tried to kill me. I formulated a plan based on that assumed knowledge. Walking up to the lever I hopped up on two legs and wrapped my front legs around the lever. It took me putting every bit of strength to pull the lever down all the way, but when I did there was a grinding sound from the door. My hypothesis seems to have been true, and I ran as fast as I could down the hall. The second I heard the door start grinding backwards I spun around and raised my Rifle, my stance tense.

_'Buck me sideways.'_

I froze as my enemy was revealed. It was Eagle Strike, I think. His flesh had rotted, literally falling off of him in chunks. His wings were little more then skin stretched across bone. His front two legs were stumps below the knees, possibly from beating them against the door, making his stance incredibly awkward as he stood there, empty glowing eye sockets staring at me.

Then he opened his mouth, his lips completely gone, leaving rotten black teeth and a blistered tongue. A low growl emanated from his throat before it got louder and louder, building up to a terrifying screech as glowing rainbow mist poured from his maw.

My vision blurred as the sound tore at my brain. I stumbles back, my body shaking. I looked back up, only to see him less then twenty feet away, his bony wings somehow allowing him to fly, fast. I activated SATS and mashed the mental select button as fast as I could, two shots were all I could set, but I must have pressed the metaphorical select button a dozen times in my panic and fright.

I didn't check how much of a chance I had to hit him, I didn't want to. I released the targeting spell and the first round flew from the barrel of my rifle, the ruby tip making an angry red line through the air.

I missed.

I felt my heart rate triple as I watched the monster barrel roll left in slow motion, dodging the bullet. The rifle kicked again, and I prayed that this one would connect.

The Goddess smiled upon me and granted my request; the bullet connected with the still spinning Pegasi's wing. The time slowing effect of SATS wore off, it's energy spent, but not before I saw the wing I'd hit burst into flames, the impact area that the bullet hit turning to ash in a second, most of the wing detaching from the Pegasus as a result.

Eagle was still spinning when the bullet hit, and his remaining wing did more harm then good. The wing caught the wind, and there was no other wing to keep him straight. Time sped up and I got to experience first hoof what having a spinning Pegasus pony flying at top speed pass less then a hairs breadth from my face felt like. My Rads Per Second counter went nuts as he zoomed passed, reading a full 200 Rads Per Second for less then an instant.

My reflexes only kicked in _after_ he'd already veered off and slammed into the wall behind me, my legs throwing me to the right uselessly. My skull impacted the metal wall and I slumped the the ground, my head pounding from the adrenaline and the bump on my noggin that was rapidly forming.

He was still alive. I got up slowly, staring at the thrashing creature with wide eyes. The magical fire from my bullet was spreading slowly, but the thing Eagle had become didn't seem to notice the fire and continued trying to stand. His ruined front legs couldn't get a good grasp on the ground, smearing rancid black ichor in streaks on the Stable floor as he tried to stand. It looked like his wings were the only thing that had been allowing him to stand upright, his balance thrown off, he was slipping and falling down patheticly.

"This isn't right." I muttered, "This isn't the kind of death you should have been given." I levitated one of my Revolvers and brought it towards him. He paused, whether he recognized what was hovering between his eyes, or because his eyes locked back on me again I wasn't sure. Another growl started building up in his throat, suggesting the latter.

One last gunshot resounded throughout the Stable.

I couldn't speak. No fancy words I could string together would make this right. No speech I could make would make Eagle's death dignified. I silently walked into the Cleansing Chamber. It was large. Much bigger then any room I'd ever seen in my Stable. There was a massive egg shaped device in the center of the room. Walking closer I saw three bodies and a large stockpile of food and water laying next to the terminal protruding from the device.

Eagle Strike's wife was an earth pony, so was one of his fillies. The other was a Pegasus like him. The only sign of injury on each of them was a single hole, right inbetween their eyes. If you ignored that, they simply looked like they were sleeping peacefully. I noticed they were all wearing necklaces. It looked like shell casings strung together with flexible metal wire. The two fillies necklaces had 9mm casings while Eagles wife's appeared to be .556's. I don't know why, but something told me I would need these. Not the casings, they were worthless now anyway because of the holes punched in them, but for something else, so I carefully took them off of the bodies and placed them in my saddlebags.

A quick check of the food and water revealed it to be almost glowing with radiation, despite the Cleansing, so I steered clear of that. I stepped closer to the terminal and found something strange. It was a case. It was black, heavy, and there was a yellow radioactive symbol on it. At first I thought it was housing something radioactive, but then I recognized the metal it was made of; lead. Whatever was inside would be free of the radiation that flooded the chamber. Then again, it could also BE something radioactive and was kept inside to keep everypony nearby safe.

Taking a gamble, I opened the case. I gasped as I saw a gleaming matte black 9mm handgun nestles within. There were several clips of ammo surrounding it. I noticed something strange about the ammo though, the tips were made from gemstone, like my incendiary rounds. I picked up one of the magazines and examined it closely. The gem was golden. I racked my brain to think of what kind of gems would be golden, and I remembered reading about Amber, some kind of hardened something from trees.

Picking up the pistol with my magic I marveled at how easily the slide gave way to my magic; it was very well cared for. There was no clip currently in the gun, but there was a round single in the chamber, and it had the same tip as the rest. Curiosity getting the better of me I aimed the gun at the far wall and squeezed the trigger. Even with my magic dampening the recoil the pistol bucked hard, but what I was more interested in was the gold streak of light launching from the barrel and impacting the far wall. My eyes widened as a small explosion, about the size of a pony's head, blossomed on the sleek metal wall.

Without a thought I levitated one of my Revolvers into my saddle and placed the new handgun into the free holster. I started making my way back towards the entrance of the Stable when everything hit me at once. The pit within me expanded as my XP bar, which I'd been ignoring, hit max.

A victory jingle sounded through my Pip-bucks speakers. I collapsed in a moaning boneless heap, completely unprepared for the wave of euphoria that surged through me. It was even more intense then the first time. I never noticed the second time I leveled up, because I was too busy thinking about what to do after I'd left the Stable.

Time froze, and my HUD changed.

**The Headless Spy**

**The Stealth Suit Mark II originally had a helmet to boost the stealth field further, but it was never mass produced because of the cost. Thankfully, with the right components, you can make one of your very own!**

**The Strongest There Is!**

**Your strength implants have received a boost, you can now carry 25 more points and your strength has increased by 1.**

**Natural Barding**

**With the right components, you can alter your strength implants to increase the natural toughness of your hide. +4 Damage Threshold!**

All of them sounded useful, but I noticed the perks that I hadn't chosen from my previous levels were still there, lit up and not dark grey like the ones I'd chosen, meaning I could go back and choose them at any time if I ever 'leveled up' and all three choices were something I didn't want. That bit of knowledge learned, I chose the first option. Alice was my only companion, anything to help her be more effective was something I wanted.

The strange thing was that I got a Quest, instead of a helmet when I chose the perk.

**The Headless Spy**

**Scrap Metal (0/10)**

**Scrap Electronics (0/15)**

**Conductor (0/1)**

**Sensor Module (0/2)**

**Fission Battery (0/1)**

**Stealth-Buck (1/4)**

That was an... extensive list. I had actually forgotten about the Stealth-Buck still in my Pip-buck. Time continued and the pleasure came flooding back. I took deep breathes as it slowly dissipated. The pit was growing again. Slowly. That feeling was intoxicating. I needed more. More experience points.

I resisted. I could feel it's growth slow, but I was going to snap again soon. I needed to get to that base. I couldn't hold it back forever, but it sounded like the former Stable residents needed to be put down before they blew something up. Or rather, a lot of somethings up, considering how well armed they were. So it would be okay if I let myself go and... earn XP...

The only thing of note I did on the way out was grab the somehow still intact Shell Casing necklace off of Eagle's body. I'd never seen the kind of casings it was made from before, but a check at the back of them revealed them to be 25mm caliber.

XxXxX

"Scope, you're back! I Just got word and the Geiger counters are completely silent, you did it." Thick Cream smiled cheerfully.

"Yeah, it wasn't too difficult. Just some fancy terminal work." I replied, giving a half-truth. "I need your help now though."

"You've saved the town, anything." She replied.

I showed her my Pip-buck, "I need these items. From what I can tell it measures the scrap in pounds, so when it says 15 it means 15 lbs." I explained.

Cream winced, "Everything but the Pip-bucks we can give you no problem. While charged Pip-bucks aren't rare, per say, they're not very common either. The best I could do is give you a discount."

Expecting this but hoping I wouldn't have to part with it so quickly, I took the Lead Case off my back and set it on her table. "This case was exposed to beyond lethal doses of radiation and the gun housed inside is completely clean." I turned to the side and levitate the 9mm pistol an inch or two out of it's holster to lend credence to my story. "Would this be worth four Pip-bucks?"

"Four? I thought you only needed three?" She asked, her curiosity coming before negotiations.

"I already have one, yes, but I would like to keep one fully charged Pip-buck with me at all times. They're pretty much a Get out of Jail free card." I explained. I hadn't needed one yet, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to eventually.

She nodded, already busy looking the Case over. "This is..." She said slowly, "This is amazing. This isn't just immune to radiation, it's resistant to Taint. Or... at least I think it is. If we could..." She started drifting off, deep in thought before she shook her head. "I'll go get the items you need, please wait here."

"Wait," I stopped her, "What's Taint?"

"It's..." She looked to be struggling for words. "It's like radiation, only it's invisible, nothing can detect it, and there isn't a whole lot you can do once you're infected with it. Thankfully, the airborne variety isn't that bad, and the body can fight it off for limited periods of time." She explained.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "How do I know if i'm infected?"

"Trust me, you'll know." She said cryptically before she left.

More waiting. More sudden unexplained awkwardness.

XxXxX

"And that should be everything." Cream said in her usual cheerful tone as she helped me stuff all of it in my saddlebags.

I quick glance at my Pip-Buck confirmed that I had everything. I had no idea how all of this stuff was supposed to get me a new helmet, but I would deal with that later. "I don't suppose you know anything about Galaxia Air Base do you?" I inquired.

She dropped the potion she was putting on one of her Stall's shelves. "Why would you want to go there?" She said, looking panicked for the first time since I'd met her.

"I made a promise to a pony. I intend to keep it." I said evasively.

She sighed, probably knowing I wouldn't be swayed from my task. "A few months ago a group made the base their home, they've started calling themselves 'Boomers' and use Pre-war weapons to shoot anything that gets close enough to the base. I've hear horror stories about ponies getting blown to pieces because they got too close." She explained.

"What kind of weapons?" I asked, this was sounding like an impossible task, but more information may reveal another route.

"Long range artillery. I've also heard that if you're fast enough to outrun the shells there are Pegasi, (actual Pegasus ponies, can you believe it?) that swoop down and use saddle mounted Missile Launchers and Grenade Launchers."

That would be... hectic. Could I shoot that fast? That good? A picture played across my minds eye as my body locked up. Me, running as fast as my legs could carry me towards a fenced off base. Shells exploding behind me. Suddenly, Pegasus started appearing in the air. I shot them as quickly as possible with my Sniper Rifle, but they only needed to get one shot off to slow me enough for the trail of artillery tearing the old road I was running on apart behind me to catch up. I miss. One Pegasi shoots. The missile explodes in front of me. It misses, but it's close enough that the shockwave of the explosion hurls me back. Right into the massive artillery shell that's all to happy to greet me.

My body is blow apart; my limbs flying in different directions as the shell lands dead center on my back. I shook my head, clearing that thought. There had to be another way. Nothing was impenetrable.

"Thank you for the information." I hesitated. "Just in case we never meet again, I would like to tell you how good it is to meet a pony as nice as you." I confessed.

She smiled slyly, "Oh? Are you coming onto me Scope?"

I froze, "What?" That... was not how I meant that statement.

"Are you sure I'm better then the 'little spitfire' on your back?" She said mirthfully.

"Y-you know about that?" I stuttered. I could feel my face heating up.

She giggled. It wasn't a mocking sound, so I calmed down a little bit. "I'm not a big drinker, so I wasn't in the bar when it happened, but word travels fast and the whole town probably knows by now."

I groaned. Is that why everybody was looking at me? I thought it was just because I was new to town...

"Don't worry, it was pretty obvious to some of the folk in there you'd never drank before and the fact that you drank as much as you did and walked out of the bar on your own four legs, under your own power without any help, earned you enough respect that most don't care about what you did-" She glanced at my Sniper Rifle and I felt my face heat up again in embarrassment. "Afterwords. You may get some ribbing from some of the bar patrons if you ever decide to drink there again, but that should be it." She assured me. "Not like you're the first pony to become attracted to an inanimate object."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

She laughed to herself, seemingly lost in a memory. "Oh yeah. I've seen mares declare they were going to marry the chairs they were sitting in after shifting just right a few times."

I laughed as well, imagining that in my head. "Thanks, I feel much better after that. I'll be seeing you." I announced as I turned to leave town.

"Stay safe Scope." She replied.

XxXxX

Shoe: The Rusty Shoe

Accepted!

You've drank your way to acceptance! The ponies of The Rusty Shoe are familiar with you; expect friendly jabs the next time you patron this bar though.

XxXxX

I was a good ways outside of town when I stopped and got the stuff to make my helmet out of my saddle. _'I don't get it, how am I supposed to make this? I don't know the first thing about making Pre-war gear from scratch. Specially without any schematics.'_

My quandary was solved when, the second I put the last piece of scrap onto the growing pile, my Pip-buck beeped and the screen started glowing. I was confused by what it was doing, so I brought it up to look at it. I never even got to look at the screen, because the second it was close to my horn a beam of magic connected the two. I could feel my magical reserves drop significantly as some kind of spell was being charged. I could barely see the pile of gear laying on the ground passed the glow of my Pip-buck and what I did see gave me pause. The spell my Pip-buck was making me use was liquefying the pile, turning it into a black metal ball floating in the air.

The sphere split in half and both halves floated towards me on either side of my head. I started fearing for my life a second later when my visor shattered into a hundred pieces and the shards flew into the two spheres.

Then the pain started. The implants in my temples felt like they were being pulled out of my head. Which was an appropriate feeling, because with a spray of blood that's exactly what they did. "AHH-MPGHHHH!" I tried to scream, but the two spheres suddenly encased my entire head. I couldn't breath, nor could I see.

My muffled screams continued as I felt something digging into my neck.

I could feel the liquid metal shift on my head, shaping into something. The pain lessened and my vision slowly returned as the metal took shape. I took a greedy gulp of air as the breathing apparatus finished forming.

Panting, I watched my nose where the helmet finished forming, the metal solidifying into something. My HUD flickered into existence from seemingly nowhere as the metal became more clear. It looked like I wasn't wearing anything at all. There were no blind spots and nothing was shaded, even the smallest amount like my old visor was.

That thought in mind I twitched my neck. To my surprise, the helmet segmented and folded into itself as it crawled down my head(1). I was even more surprised that it all fit into a thin black metal strip circling around my neck, fitting just under Alice's collar. It was imbedded in my flesh, just like my old implants were. I felt my temples with my hooves. Nothing. Either Alice hit me with a Stimpack, or the spell that made the helmet healed me. Either way, my implants were gone. Another twitch confirmed it; my visor was replaced by the helmet.

I didn't mind really, the helmet seemed to be better in every way, and if the Perk description was right then it also boosted my Stealth Field, something I had a feeling I would need.

"**Stealth Suit Mark II, Designation; Alice, Complete.** No one has ever been as unnoticed as me." I chuckled at Alice's pride filled words. Feeling my confidence bolstered I started marching towards the indicator on my map.

center XxXxX /center

"G-gimme caps or cut-cut you."

I'd been walking for almost three hours now before something finally stopped me. She was thin, probably hadn't eaten in days. Dressed in standard Raider gear, she was standing shakily in front of me barely levitating a rather impressive looking knife in front of her.

"Do you really want to do this?" I said, levitating my sidearms into the air in a show of intimidation.

"M-must... Food n-need. Flesh tas-tasty." She mumbled, her yellowed, twitching eyes full of hunger.

She didn't even seem to see the danger she was in as she rushed forward, already swinging her knife wildly, despite being several yards away from me.

Raiders Die.

I fired without a second of hesitation, A single shot putting the mad mare down. I briefly wondered why her eyes were yellow as I grabbed the knife with my magic before walking passed her, holstering my guns. The beasts of the wilderness would take care of the body.

I was far more interested in the knife. Not the blade itself, but the fact that I could carry it. It was heavy. Well, not really, but passed the weight limit of things my magic could carry. I always thought it had to be a gun of some kind for my magic to count it as a weapon, but when I put it in my bag the inventory screen of my Pip-buck registered it as a weapon, instead of a Misc. item.

I continued to walk towards my destination as I took the knife out again; one more theory to test on my mind. I touched my horn, or at least the metal covering my horn, to the flat of the blade, "Repair."

The small imperfections on the cutting edge started disappearing. It was already in near perfection condition, so it only took a few minutes to fix it completely. Did my 'level' increase the abilities of my magic? Or had I simply assumed that it only worked on weapons? This required further testing. The next time I saw something inanimate that couldn't be classed as a weapon I would be sure to try and repair it.

I started panting as my resistance grew weaker. All this thinking about levels was quickening things. I needed to hurry.

XxXxX

I stopped and sat on my flank, checking my Pip-buck; it was Midnight.

The dead trees, as sparse as they were, completely stopped appearing as I laid eyes upon the base in the distance. It was still very far away, but there was nothing obscuring my vision anymore. I could see smoking craters spread as far as the eye could see around the base. The land was dead. They'd bombed the life out of everything. Looking through my scope I saw the skeleton of a small town closer to the base. The farthest building in the town was less then twenty feet away from the gate to the fence around the base.

What was interesting was that the base and the town matched the image I had in my head back in Shoe perfectly. I glanced at my Pip-buck again, a plan solidifying in my mind. I could do this.

I walked sideways, skirting around the very edges of the devastated ground until I reached the single broken road leading to the base. I lowered my body, preparing to run. My hoof scraped across the broken cement as I readied myself. My breathing sped up, I could feel my nostrils flaring with every rapid breath I took as I prepared myself.

I was off like a shot, sprinting towards the gate, the broken road beneath me cracking as my hooves slammed down on it. Luna's night granted it's blessing, hiding me from sight for almost half of the trip.

I entered the town limits, the broken buildings on my left, nothing but craters on my right. The second I passed the first building I heard a sound. I'd never heard it before. It sounded like something was splitting the very sky itself. A deafening explosion filled my ears and I was buffeted by a wave of heated air from the explosion behind me.

My ears ringing, my heart thundering in my chest the only I could hear, I pushed my legs harder. The fear of death the likes of which I'd only felt once before powered my body, filling me with it's adrenaline tinged energy.

Three explosions, and untold amounts of distance later and I could see pony shaped blobs rise into the air in the distance. My vision sharpened by fear, I grabbed my Sniper Rifle and brought it to my eye. The Seeing Eye Pony Perk worked marvelously with my quick-scoping technique and I fired the first of my five shots the second the scope was in front of my eye at the bright red pony shape that lit up in my eyesight; my hooves never stopping or slowing in the least.

I don't know if I hit the Pegasus, but she fell back to the ground, so I must have hit her somewhere. I kept running, a mad grin splitting my covered face as I carved a path towards my objective. I was doing it, the shells were too far behind me to do anything but keep me deaf, and the Pegasi rising into the air were instantly shot down before they could even think to line up a shot.

The vision I had back in Shoe flashed across my mind as I fired my last shot. I missed. The Pegasi kept rising and positioned itself in the air. A flash of light lit up the darkened sky and I could see something streaking towards me. It wasn't going to hit me. I was hauling flank, but not fast enough to reach where it was going to hit. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I braced myself as the missile impacted the ground in front of me, holding my ground instead of being hurled back.

The second the shockwave ended I hurled myself to the left, my Stealth-Buck activating. I ignored the tingle as the Absolute Stealth Field covered me, making my fur standing on end. I plastered myself against the sole remaining concrete wall of the first building I saw that would shield me from the Boomer's sight after clearing the cloud of dust kicked up by the missile.

There were almost a dozen more explosions from where I used to be standing before they stopped. My hearing was restored as the night was once again silent. The dust cloud finally cleared and I could hear far off cheers of the Boomers as nothing but broken road was revealed.

I reloaded my Sniper Rifle started moving again, this time at a much slower pace, weaving in and out of the broken buildings for cover. The Absolute Stealth Field would have probably been enough easily, even more so combined with the bitch blacknessm but I was risking getting blasted to pieces here, and I kind of like my limbs on my body where they belong. A little redundancy never hurt anypony.

I cleared the last building of the town and approached the gate. It was incredibly solid. I don't think I could get through it using any other method but the gate. I slowly walked over to the lock on the gate, ignoring the Boomer, a Pegasus wearing a Stable Jumpsuit with some kind of leather jacket over it, standing guard behind the gate.

'_Tarturus__ condemn you!_' I cursed the hunk of metal as I realized I couldn't pick it. It was too advanced for my current skill level.

A thought struck me as I gave their gate and fence a look over. Would they risk blowing up their own fence to kill me? They were pretty obviously xenophobic, and his was their wall that kept the Wastes out. Would they risk damaging such an important object to kill me? From what I could tell the Boomers had forsaken firearms and embraced explosive weapons exclusively, making simply shooting me impossible.

A glance at the map of my Pip-buck told me my target was inside.

Taking a gamble, I deactivated my Stealth-buck in full view of the Boomer.

He started violently, pointing his battle saddle mounted Missile launcher at me. A useless gesture really, considering if he fired he would just hit the fence between us.

"How the hell did you survive that bombardment?" He demanded.

"Simple enough. Run, hide, run some more; it's all in the timing." I replied, the very picture of nonchalance as I stood there with my forelegs crossed.

"But I had you zeroed in the whole time! Nopony's that fast!" He whined before he paused, collecting himself. "Move a muscle and I'll blow you to pieces." He threatened.

"If I came here to attack you don't you think I would have already killed you when you didn't know I was still alive a second ago?" I retorted. I needed to get inside, more experience points lay within this fenced off base.

He was shaken by my logic. "Then just, just stay where you are, Thump will be here any second."

I could see a Pegasus mare, rather pretty; sleek black mane with a dark yellow coat, running towards us. "I'm Thump, Master-At-Arms for the Galaxia homeland. Mother Fuse, our eldest, wishes to speak with you." She greeted when she reached us. It sounded mechanic, rehearsed.

"Alright, lead the way." I was curious about what a Master-At-Arms was exactly, but I needed to get to Eye E-Dee before I snapped and time was running short.

"She nodded, walking forward and unlocking the gate. I slipped inside and she gave me a dirty look as she closed the gate behind me, much different from her earlier demeanor. "Follow me; and mind your behavior." She snapped.

"Snippy..." I couldn't resist mumbling to myself.

She heard me. Whirling around, getting so close I nose pressed against the metal of my helmet, she glared into where she assumed my eyes were (I could be an eye-less mutant for all she knew). "Listen here you ignorant _Savage_ it's the middle of the night. I was sound asleep when I got word someone had breached our defenses for the first time since we set up patrols months ago. So first of all, I'm allowed to be cranky, and second of all, I could care less about the opinion of a _Savage_. Now shut up!"

_'I get the impression that they don't have a high regard for outsiders here.'_ I joked flatly in my head. Thump snorted and turned back around; taking my silence as an indication I was properly cowed by her tantrum.

center XxXxX /center

"Welcome child, Took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" An elderly mare, her mane having gone white due to age, greeted us as we entered a small cabin. "I've been waiting months for an outsider to come along and visit!"

I stared at her for several long seconds. "You do know your group is _shooting anypony that gets close,_ right?" I said flatly.

She chuckled in that unique tone that only old ponies could use. "Our weapons aren't just for show, child! Explosive ordinance is what keeps the savages at a distance." That word again... "Except you! There's something special about you, child, and it was the howitzer's that gave you a chance to show it!"

I smelled Quests. Not literally, of course, but I could feel my mental resistance crumble further at the mere thought of more experience. Every point getting me closer to a level up. "How can I be of assistance?"

She smiled widely at my offer, not at all surprised by the fact that I was acting the exact opposite of any sane pony. They just tried to _blow me to pieces_! I shouldn't be offering to help them. Despite common sense being stabbed in the corner of the room, she continued. "Oh, so many ways! Small tasks to begin with, so we can get used to what it's like to have a Sav-_outsider._" She gently corrected herself, "Around and about. Should that go well, it may be you can help in bigger ways too. We'll see."

"Where do I start?" My Pip-buck was eager for Quests to fill it, and the pit was growing at the thought of every task giving me XP.

"You picked a good time to stop by, for we're swimming in problems. My youngsters can tell you all about it. Thump could use some help with the bug problem. Doc has some wounded." She gave me an amused look, "I'm sure you're more then aware of that though." She sent a meaningful look at my Sniper Rifle. "Oath and Jack might need help with some of the repairs. Or, you could just see Lil' Boom at the museum in the morning and hear the story of our people. All you have to do there is listen. Come and go, help or don't help, I leave it up to you. But I hope that you'll show my youngers that not every outsider needs to be blown up." After she finished listing things she simply walked off. She went over to her kitchen and started making something to drink for herself.

I knew a dismissal when I heard one, so I left the cabin.

XxXxX

I spent the rest of the night and well into the morning working around the base. First I talked to Loyalty Oath and Hydraulic Jack about the repairs. The solar arrays that collected power (which I didn't know could even work, since there WAS no sunlight) for the base needed fixing, and I even got a bit of bonus XP for increasing their output with my skills with machines.

The bunker the arrays were housed on was filled with ants. I laughed when Thump told me this, the mere thought of such tiny bugs being dangerous was downright laughable.

And then I saw one.

I've never seen an ant in real life, just in books and vids, but i'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be half my size and _breathe fire_!

After the ants were dead I armed the defense turrets. They were high enough on the walls that they were protected from the ant's fire; so just in case the ants returned the turrets could easily turn them to ash. On my way out the lights turned on, the generators the ants had caused to shut down powering back up.

I wasn't able to just much for the injured Boomers. There were seven injured, and only three of them were in the infirmity because of the ants. The other four glared daggers at me from their beds as I talked with Doc and borrowed a medical magazine from him. I would read it later when I had some spare time.

Throughout all of this, I came to realize just how likable the Boomers' were. That was a problem. They were a terrible threat wrapped in a light hearted package. It was subtle, but it was there. I saw their armory in passing. Bombs. Missiles. Mines and Grenades of all different kinds. Artillery shells. Hundreds and hundreds of everything was stockpiled. What was to stop these ponies from arming themselves and launching an aerial strike on every one of the nearby towns?

It all came to a head when I stopped by the 'museum', which was really just a barracks building with a mural covering half of the wall. "And that is our story so far, for this last image... is our future." I had to hand it to Lil Boom, he was pretty good at story telling; very dramatic when he needed to be.

The mural though is what cemented the Boomers fate. It was a picture of the horizon. Like a Pegasus had flown up and painted everything she saw. But it wasn't a peaceful picture, there were rainbow colored mushroom clouds blossoming out of every one of the small, rather detailed looking towns and cities. Their goal was to bomb Equestria; to fill it's skies with the sickly glow of radiation once more, wiping everyone but themselves off the map.

I left quickly. One more task before I released myself. The mass of XP I had gotten from completing the tasks had kept me mollified, but I was still at the end of my rope.

I entered Mother Fuse's cabin to find her sitting on her couch looking out the window with a mug of some kind of steaming drink in her hooves. Walking up to her I placed the four necklaces on the table in front of her. She looked at them in confusion before her eyes went wide in dawning horror as she saw the 9mm casings on two of the necklaces. "Where... where did you find these?" She said, her voice filled with sadness.

"Stable 34. It seems not all of your people were happy with leaving peacefully. Eye E-Dee planted bombs inside the Stable before he left. Eagle Strike and his family were trapped and sacrificed their lives so a nearby town could survive. It's why I'm here." I said grimly.

She was silent, looking at the necklaces. "You knew his name, and you brought his necklace, that's all the proof I need. Eagle's necklace was unique. The only other pony that used 25mm casings was my daughter, the leader of our side of the civil war." She set the necklaces down and closed her eyes. "The punishment for murder is death. I will inform Thump, she will take care of this."

"No." I said firmly, causing her to look at me. "I promised Eagle I would do it. Eye is mine."

She nodded. "I have heard of your exploits. You have earned enough of our trust to do this. None of my people will bother you while you're... taking care of Eye."

I turned to leave, but a sudden thought occurred to me. "When I was arming the defense turrets in the power station I saw more systems. Are there any other automated defenses for the base?"

She was surprised, I guess she didn't expect me to know anything about terminals aside from using the pre-coded commands. Thanks, Eagle. "Yes... yes there are more. There is an army of robots under the base, but we haven't been able to activate them. If we managed to activate them we would be completely safe from outsiders while we focused on our future goal. If you could activate them you would have our eternal gratitude." She explained.

"And am I really the first outsider to breach the base?" I asked instantly. It was idle curiosity and I had no proof that there was another non-Boomer here, just a gut feeling.

"... No." I didn't like that pause. She looked uncomfortable. "Nopony but you, child."

I nodded, promising myself to be cautious from now on. I left the cabin and followed my Pip-buck. It was pointing me towards a part of the base I'd never been to before. It was a small metal bunker. The only thing inside was a single Terminal. There was only a single option; **Open Bunker Door**. I was confused why this was what the Boomers struggled with, but the second I pressed the enter key the system demanded a password.

What followed was one of the most frustrating things I'd ever done. Once again the skills taught to me by Eagle was the thing that won the day and I breathed a sigh of relief as a section of the floor opened, revealing stairs.

Walking down the stairs I came upon a large metal bulkhead. Another terminal on the wall was foals play compared to the first upstairs and the door opened.

My jaw dropped as low as my helmet would allow; hundreds of red optics stared back at me. Rows upon rows of robots of all different kinds sat in standby mode. I walked, awed by such a large force, through the robots until I found what I could only guess was a large elevator. There was a large console in front of it. Walking over to the screen I was overjoyed to find that everything was already unlocked and I didn't have to try and hack anything.

All I had to do was press a few keys and change the targeting matrix. It was odd; the Boomers were already on the list, meaning somepony had been in here and entered them. Entering myself onto the 'Do Not Turn To Ash' list I found an even more interesting piece of code. Alicorns were locked onto the list of things to never even point your guns at. It made sense, I mused, before the Goddesses ascended they were living ponies. As mighty as they were an army of robots deciding they weren't authorized to sit on their own thrown would be bad news. I could cancel this feature, but it looked like that would be even harder then unlocking the door leading down to this place.

Besides, what were the chances of me meeting an Alicorn?

I laughed to myself at such an absurd thought as I activated the robots. The beautiful hum of dozens of machines coming online filled the air and I felt at peace. A line of Robo Ponys and Mr. Handys steadily walked/floated onto the massive elevator along with a third kind of robot I'd never seen before. They had wheels, and were rather short. They were completely covered in heavy duty plates though, and the massive cannon that swiveled on top of them suggested they could do quite a bit of damage.

I walked over to the elevator and hopped onto it just as it started raising to the surface. It was a slow ride, an elevator that had to support this much weight couldn't move very fast, even with magic, so I was rather bored by the time I reached the top. It looked like we were inside a hangar. There weren't any planes in it, so the robots had a clear path as they marched, floated, and rolled outside. Their programming commanding them to travel endlessly through a pre-programmed patrol route.

Weaving my way through the robots I left the hanger and headed towards my next Quest arrow. It was time to take care of Eye.

I slowed as a Robo Pony patrolled beside me. The hiss of his hydraulics was soothing. We eventually approached the far side of the base. There were three barracks and one cabin. They were all in a row and according to my may Pip-buck, Eye was housed in the last building.

**+5 Per Rads Second**

I jerked back as the corner of my HUD lit up red. I stared at the cabin I was about to pass curiously. Taking a step forward my HUD lit up again.

**b +5 Rads Per Second /b**

Strange... Stepping back and levitating out my bottle of Rad-X pills I downed one of the three remaining red and yellow pills within before stepping forward.

**b +1 Rads Per Second /b**

That's better. Entering the cabin cautiously I thought I heard the sound of a shower running, but ignored it. I was obviously imagining things. Nopony would live here, much less bathe in the radiation filled water that would no doubt come out of the faucets. The cabin was identical to Mother Fuse's, but it looked more... messy, I guess. Like somepony got really clumsy and knocked everything around. I found the source of the radiation with a bit of looking; there were several barrels of some kind of toxic material (it was glowing with that rather unmistakable glow) scattered around the cabin. A thought occurred to me; I could test out my repair spell on these.

Sitting in front of the barrel with the closed bathroom door behind me I touched my horn to it as I gathered my magic. "**Repair.**" I intoned and concentrated on fixing the barrel. I gasped as I felt a massive drop of my magic levels. The spell only lasted a few seconds before I had to cancel it or risk passing out. Leaning back, swaying lightly, I gazed at my work. The barrel was rusted completely through, full of holes and dents, but towards the top, where my horn had been touching, sat a perfect circle of gleaming steel.

I'd done it! Well, okay, not really. The part that was restored was barely bigger then my hoof, but still! If I got stronger who knows what I could restore?

I turned around to open the bathroom door. There may be something in there, who knows, maybe that's where the old resident used to keep his ammo? There was a slight problem though; I ran into something.

I came face... okay, face to knee with something. Scrambling backwards I stared up at... "G-Goddess?" I blurted in shock.

She stared down at me through her midnight colored mane. She was dripping wet, the water drops cascading down her form. I'm ashamed to admit I felt a certain part of myself perk up at her regal beauty. **You know who we are? No... You're not one of us, nor do we ever remember seeing you before.** Her regal voice sounded through my skull. Like she was talking directly to my brain.

Her eyes glanced down at my Pip-buck and her serene features twisted. **Stable Pony.** She spat. **You're like Parasprites. Multiplying every time we turn our back.**

Before I could react I was thrown across the cabin. I felt the wind get knocked from my lungs as the Alicorn's magic glued me to the wall, my legs spread wide. With another flash of her horn my Helmet exploded, showering the room in black metal shards. **Oh, what do we have here?** She mused as she watched my Helmet slowly repair itself. The same system that kept Alice in peak condition apparently extending to my newest headgear.

Before it encased my head once again the Alicorn bent low, touching her horn to mine. I felt a tingle in my brain and every piece of knowledge I had about Alice suddenly jumped to the forefront of my mind's eye.

The magic holding me in place changed and my head jerked to the side, my helmet sliding down my face and into my collar as a result. **Fascinating.** The Alicorn muttered. **We sense electronics in you.**

The magic changed again and I suddenly felt exposed as Alice was taken off, my strength implants now visible to her piercing gaze. **It's a shame this is technology based. Our flock would grow ever stronger with these.** She traced one of the glowing blue lines, causing me to shudder at her touch.

Why was everything in the wasteland related to either death or sex?

"**You stable ponys are rarely qualified for Unification, but you have your uses. Lets see what you have here...** My Pip-buck glowed as she scanned it with her magic. **Junk. Junk. Map Coordinates. Ju-My oh my, what do we have here? There are spells and schematics housed in here.** Her demeanor changed, like she was giving my Pip-buck her full attention. As if to prove my thoughts the magical glow around my Pip-buck got brighter... and brighter... and kept getting brighter as the Alicorn's eyebrows narrowed further and further. **YEILD TO THE GREAT AND POWERFUL GODDESS YOU USELESS PIECE OF SCRAP! **

I flinched violently, wincing in pain. Her voice turned from a soothingly silk blanket just barely touching my brain to red hot needles of pain digging into my every thought. **Very well.** She almost pouted, turning her attention back to me she continued, her voice more hypnotizing then before. **You will gain strength and unlock more of the spells and schematics housed within this device.**

It was not a suggestion, and I was tempted to give in right away to her wishes. "Why would I... do that." Talking was difficult, her presence in my mind was still there, smothering my thoughts and resistance.

She looked amused again. **There was only one spell we had access to. Don't you get it, you're already a partially trained mutt.** She leaned down and touched her horn to mine again. **Here's a reward for what you have given us so far. Bark for us.**

My world exploded with a pulse of her magic. My body twitched and shuddered as much as her magic would allow. Pleasure so great it passed the threshold into a dull ache coursed through me. I could feel my eyes roll into the back of my head as drool spilled down my muzzle. Nothing but Luna's endless starry sky greeted my eyes.

And then it stopped. Like flicking a switch I was once again staring up at the endlessly amused Alicorn. **The Great and Powerful Goddess can't take over you're body, but we see an area of weakness.**

The resistance holding back the pit was attacked and shattered by the presence in my mind. The hot needles of pain were back, and the pit shrank. Not only shrank, but it was filled. I felt violated. I knew, somehow, that unless the Godde-_the presence_ died, a part of her would forever remain within my psych.

**The Goddess wished to add this base to her domain. You will find a way to complete this task. **The Alicorn ordered imperiously.

I forced out the word, "N-no..." _I_ wanted this base. I was going to reprogram the targeting matrix of the robots to only include myself and the Alicorns (this was before I knew they still existed) after I killed Eye E-Dee and once they had spread throughout the base, revel in the XP gained from the mechs turning on the Boomers.

The Alicorn smiled indulgently. She lowered her head, again connecting our horns.

I screamed.

The equine nervous system wasn't meant to be put through this kind of treatment. Specially not this quickly in succession. Without Alice to counteract the damage with a Stimpack there was barely any pleasure to be had, just pain. Mind-numbing, suicide inducing, pain.

I almost cried in relief when it finally stopped. Just as before it ended suddenly; a switch being flipped off.

I fell to the ground. The Alicorn not feeling the need to hold me now that she had me completely defenseless. **Will you follow The Goddess' will now? Or mist we crack the whip again?**

"I d-don't... know h-h-how..." I stuttered stubbornly.

**Silly colt, The Goddess knows your every secret. You're lying. You know what this means, don't you?** Her horn neared mine again.

Nononopleaseno-"AHHHH!" The whisper of pleasure from before was gone, untold quantities of agony in it's place. It hurt, sweet Merciful Celestia did it hurt. Hellish torture buffeted my body, mind, and soul for what felt like hours. I would do anything to make it stop.

Flick. And the pain was gone. "I-I'll do... It!" I screamed, my voice hoarse. "J-just no... n-no more... M-make the p-pain st-stop..." I trailed off into a whimper as any movement sent jagged lines of pain up my limbs and chest. My pain receptors were reaching their breaking point; every sensation was registering as pain.

**The Goddess always gets what she wants. You may use the base at your leisure as a reward after the barbarians are dealt with.** She declared flippantly. I whimpered harder as she picked me up roughly with her magic and put Alice back on me. I received two doses of Med-X and a Stimpack the second the latch on my collar was in place. My shivering calmed as they healed my damaged nervous system and made me numb to the parts that only time could heal.

I looked up, only to see the Alicorns horn glowing again. My pupils shrank to pinpricks in terror, but, with a flash, I was back inside the bunker that housed the robots, instead of being subjected to more torture. The elevator, as large as it was, could only hold roughly 10% of the robot army at once, so the chamber was still slowly being emptied.

I staggered over to the console. Highlighting the names and descriptions of every one of the Boomers from the Friendlies list I transferred them to the list for Hostiles. Biting my lip hard I started to try and hack the terminal so I could get rid of the codes locking Alicorns in the friendly list. I was most of the way done, just needed to work out the password, when I lost control of my hooves. I watched in dull shock as they typed random letters.

**Incorrect Password**

**Incorrect Password**

**Incorrect Password**

**Incorrect Password**

**Chances expended, Terminal Locked.**

I stared at the terminal. Minutes passed. I couldn't get back into the system. The robots wouldn't fire upon me, but my last bid for freedom had just disappeared.

**The Goddess saw what you tried to do, my little puppy. **The voice sounded tired, like controlling me, even for just ten seconds, was very difficult.

I was far too terrified at the moment to notice this though. I looked around, my head darting left and right to see where the bringer of punishment that I knew was in store would attack from. The punishment came from the one place I wasn't, couldn't, look. With a mental click my brain felt like it was once more under siege by red hot needles.

**Bad puppy, bad.** The goddess' voice taunted within my mind, taking on a slightly haughty tone.

I collapsed onto the metal grate on the floor and hugged myself, curling into a ball. My HUD lit up. I was getting XP left and right. 50. 200. 75. 150. 1000. The slaughter of the Boomers had commenced. The last burst included a beep from my Pip-buck. I didn't have the energy or the motivation to look at it, but I knew Eye E-Dee was dead.

I chuckled as my eyes grew heavy and I fell into a dreamless sleep. The full 24 hours I had been awake for catching up to me. I found a wielder. I was a tool and weapon of The Great and Powerful Goddess now... whether I wanted to be or not.

XxXxX

1.( Think Isaac Clarke's helmet from Dead Space.

Please keep in mind the first three chapters were already written, they just needed a touch up, hence the rapid uploading. I'll start writing 4 when I have time.


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